Learn Hardcore German: In einer Demokratie dürfen alle wählen, und die Wahl beeinflusst auch unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit. - In a democracy everyone may vote, and the election also affects our salary and our work.

in can take either accusative (movement into) or dative (location in/within).
Here the meaning is within a democracy (no movement), so it needs dative.
Demokratie is a feminine noun (die Demokratie).

Feminine singular in the dative with the indefinite article is:

Nominative: eine Demokratie
Dative: einer Demokratie

So we get In einer Demokratie = In a democracy.

Why does the verb come right after In einer Demokratie? Why dürfen alle wählen and not alle dürfen wählen?

In a German main clause, the conjugated verb must be in second position (the “V2 rule”).

Positions here are counted as elements, not individual words:

In einer Demokratie – first element (a prepositional phrase)
dürfen – conjugated verb in second position
alle – subject
wählen – infinitive (goes to the end)

So In einer Demokratie dürfen alle wählen is:

[1] In einer Demokratie | [2] dürfen | [3] alle | [4] wählen.

You could also say:

Alle dürfen in einer Demokratie wählen.

Then alle is first, dürfen second, and in einer Demokratie moves to the middle. Both versions are correct; they just emphasize slightly different things. The original sentence emphasizes the democracy context.

What exactly does dürfen mean here, and why is it followed by wählen at the end?

dürfen is a modal verb and means “to be allowed to / may” (permission).

Structure with modal verbs is:

conjugated modal verb in 2nd position
main verb in infinitive at the end of the clause

So:

dürfen – conjugated (here: alle dürfen → dürfen is 3rd person plural)
wählen – infinitive, placed at the end

Meaning: dürfen wählen = are allowed to vote / may vote.

If you used können, it would mean “can (are able to) vote”, focusing more on ability than permission:

In einer Demokratie können alle wählen.

Why is it alle by itself? Where is the noun like "alle Leute" or "alle Bürger"?

In German, alle can stand alone as a pronoun when the noun is clear from context. It then means “everyone / all people”.

alle (alone) ≈ everyone / everybody
alle Leute, alle Bürger, alle Menschen are more explicit, but often unnecessary.

So dürfen alle wählen is naturally understood as “everyone is allowed to vote”.

Why is there a comma before und? In English we wouldn’t always put one there.

The comma is there because two independent main clauses are being joined:

In einer Demokratie dürfen alle wählen
die Wahl beeinflusst auch unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit

In German, when two full main clauses are connected with und, a comma is optional but very common and stylistically preferred in written language, especially when the clauses are longer.

So:

With comma (as in the sentence):
In einer Demokratie dürfen alle wählen, und die Wahl beeinflusst auch unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit.
Without comma is also accepted:
In einer Demokratie dürfen alle wählen und die Wahl beeinflusst auch unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit.

Here the comma makes the structure clearer.

What’s the difference between wählen and die Wahl? They look similar.

They are related but have different grammatical roles:

wählen – verb: to choose / to vote
- alle wählen = everyone votes
die Wahl – noun: the choice / the election / the vote
- die Wahl beeinflusst … = the election affects …

In the sentence:

First clause: action, so German uses the verb wählen.
Second clause: talks about the event/result (the election), so it uses the noun die Wahl.

Why is it die Wahl beeinflusst and not die Wahl beeinflussen?

beeinflussen is the verb to influence / to affect.

Infinitive: beeinflussen
3rd person singular (er/sie/es): beeinflusst

Subject–verb agreement:

Subject: die Wahl → singular (one election)
Therefore: verb must be 3rd person singular → beeinflusst

So die Wahl beeinflusst = the election influences.

If the subject were plural, the verb would change:

Die Wahlen beeinflussen … = The elections influence …

Why is it unser Gehalt but unsere Arbeit? Why do the endings of unser change?

unser is a possessive determiner (our), and it changes its ending to match the gender, number, and case of the noun.

Here, unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit is the direct object (accusative plural phrase) of beeinflusst:

Gehalt – neuter noun (das Gehalt)
- Accusative singular neuter: article ending is like nominative → unser Gehalt (no extra -e)
Arbeit – feminine noun (die Arbeit)
- Accusative singular feminine: ending -e → unsere Arbeit

So you get:

unser Gehalt = our salary (neuter, acc. sg.)
unsere Arbeit = our work/job (feminine, acc. sg.)

The verb beeinflusst agrees with die Wahl (subject), not with Gehalt / Arbeit (objects).

What’s the difference between Gehalt and other words like Lohn? Does Gehalt only mean salary?

Gehalt in this context means salary:

das Gehalt – typically monthly salary, often for office or professional jobs.
der Lohn – wage, often hourly or for manual work. (Everyday speech often mixes them, though.)

There is also another meaning of Gehalt:

der Gehalt (less common) – content (e.g. sugar content, alcohol content), usually in compounds like Zuckergehalt.

In everyday speech, standalone Gehalt almost always means salary.
So unser Gehalt = our salary / our pay.

What exactly does auch do in beeinflusst auch unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit? Where could it go?

auch means also / too and adds the idea that this is another thing being affected, not the only thing.

Position in the sentence:

die Wahl beeinflusst auch unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit
– neutral, standard: “the election also affects our salary and our work.”

You could move auch slightly, but the meaning/nuance changes:

die Wahl beeinflusst unser Gehalt und auch unsere Arbeit
– emphasizes “and also our work” as an additional item.
auch die Wahl beeinflusst unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit
– means “the election also affects … (in addition to something else that affects it)”.

In the original, auch clearly marks: besides whatever else elections influence (e.g., politics, laws), they also influence our salary and our work.

Could I say In einer Demokratie kann jeder wählen instead? How is that different from dürfen alle wählen?

Yes, you can say In einer Demokratie kann jeder wählen, but there are two differences:

Modal verb:
- dürfen = to be allowed to, may → focuses on permission / rights.
- können = to be able to, can → focuses on ability / possibility.
Here, since voting is a right, dürfen is more precise and typical.
alle vs. jeder:
- alle = everyone / all (people) – collective.
- jeder = each / every (person) – individual perspective.
Meaning-wise they’re very similar in this context, but:
- alle sounds like “all people as a group”.
- jeder feels more like “each individual person”.

So:

In einer Demokratie dürfen alle wählen.
– Emphasis: everyone has the right to vote.
In einer Demokratie kann jeder wählen.
– Emphasis: each person can vote (is able to), slightly less focused on rights.

Is the word order die Wahl beeinflusst auch unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit fixed, or could I say something like Die Wahl beeinflusst unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit auch?

German word order is somewhat flexible, but not all variants sound equally natural.

Most natural here is:

Die Wahl beeinflusst auch unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit.

You can say:

Die Wahl beeinflusst unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit auch.

This is grammatically correct but slightly heavier and often used for extra emphasis on “auch” at the end, like:

“The election influences our salary and our work as well (on top of other things).”

However, you cannot freely scramble the core structure (subject – verb – objects) in a main clause. For example:

*Die Wahl unser Gehalt und unsere Arbeit beeinflusst auch – sounds wrong / ungrammatical for a neutral statement.

Basic pattern to keep in mind:

Subject → conjugated verb → (midfield with objects / adverbs) → final elements (infinitives, participles, etc.)

Here there is only one finite verb (beeinflusst), so it stays in second position of the clause.