Breakdown of Überall, wo man schaut, findet man ein Wunder.
ein
a, an (eine)
finden
to find
wo
where
schauen
to look
Questions & Answers about Überall, wo man schaut, findet man ein Wunder.
Why do we use wo here instead of a regular relative pronoun?
wo acts as an indefinite relative pronoun in this sentence. Instead of pointing back to a specific noun (which would use regular relative pronouns like der, die, or das), wo is used to refer back to indefinite place words like überall (everywhere), irgendwo (somewhere), or nirgends (nowhere).
Why is there a comma right after Überall?
In German, relative clauses must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. Because the relative clause wo man schaut gives more information about the word Überall, it gets inserted immediately after it. The second comma closes the relative clause so the main clause can continue.
Why is the word order findet man and not man findet?
The entire opening block, Überall, wo man schaut, counts as the first position in the main sentence. Because German requires the main conjugated verb to be in the second position (the V2 rule), the verb findet must come immediately after that whole block, pushing the subject man after the verb.
Could I use du instead of man here, like we use "you" in English?