Breakdown of Man entsorgt den Müll sofort.
sofort
immediately
man
one / you (impersonal)
der Müll
the trash / the garbage
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
Questions & Answers about Man entsorgt den Müll sofort.
Why is man lowercase here, and does it mean "man"?
The word man (lowercase with one "n") is an impersonal pronoun meaning "one", "people", or the general "you". It is completely different from the noun der Mann (uppercase with two "n"s), which means "the man". Because it acts like "he/she/it", it takes the third-person singular verb ending, which is why we use entsorgt.
Is the prefix ent- in entsorgt separable?
No, ent- is an inseparable prefix, so it stays firmly attached to the verb. The prefix ent- often indicates removing, escaping, or taking something away, which fits perfectly with entsorgen (to dispose of or throw away).
Why is it den Müll instead of der Müll?
The trash is the direct object being disposed of, which requires the accusative case. Because Müll is a masculine noun, its article changes from the nominative der to the accusative den.
Why does the time adverb sofort come after the object instead of before it?
German word order often places time adverbs early in the sentence. However, when the direct object is definite—meaning it uses a specific article like den (the)—the definite object usually comes before the time adverb. If the object were indefinite, the time adverb would come first, as in Man entsorgt sofort Müll.