Learn Hardcore German: Im Unterricht darf jeder eine Frage stellen.

The preposition in can take dative (location, “where?”) or accusative (direction, “where to?”).
Im Unterricht describes a location/situation (“during/in class”), not movement.

So:

Wo? (Where?) – Im Unterricht. → dative
That’s why you have dem Unterricht → im Unterricht.

Why is the verb darf used and not kann?

dürfen (darf) expresses permission – what is allowed.
können (kann) usually expresses ability or possibility – what is possible or someone is capable of.

Im Unterricht darf jeder eine Frage stellen.
= Everyone is allowed to ask a question in class.

If you said:

Im Unterricht kann jeder eine Frage stellen.
It would sound more like “everyone is able to ask a question” (physically/mentally possible), which is logically true but doesn’t clearly express permission or rules.

In contexts of rules, rights, and what’s allowed, German prefers dürfen.

Who or what is the subject in this sentence, and how do we know?

The subject is jeder (“everyone”).

We know because:

jeder is in the nominative case.
The finite verb darf is 3rd person singular, and jeder is also grammatically singular. They agree.

Rough structure:

Im Unterricht – prepositional phrase (dative): “in class”
darf – verb (3rd person singular)
jeder – subject (nominative singular)
eine Frage – direct object (accusative)
stellen – infinitive verb

So the “doer” of the action “asking” is jeder.

Why is it jeder and not alle?

jeder and alle work differently:

jeder = “each / every (one)”, grammatically singular
→ takes a singular verb: jeder darf
alle = “all (people)”, grammatically plural
→ would take a plural verb: alle dürfen

So:

Im Unterricht darf jeder eine Frage stellen.
= Each person individually has permission.

Compare:

Im Unterricht dürfen alle eine Frage stellen.
= All (students) may ask a question. Same idea in meaning, but grammatically plural.

The original chooses jeder to focus on each individual’s right.

Why is jeder masculine – does it also include women?

Yes, jeder here includes all people, regardless of gender.

In this sentence, jeder is an indefinite pronoun meaning “everyone / everybody”. German uses the masculine form in such generic, mixed-gender contexts by default. This is a feature of traditional grammar, not a restriction on actual people included.

Similar examples:

Jeder ist willkommen. – Everyone is welcome.
Jeder kann mitmachen. – Everyone can join in.

So even though the form is grammatically masculine, it refers to all participants, not only male ones.

Why do we say eine Frage stellen and not eine Frage fragen?

German uses stellen with Frage in the sense of “to pose a question”:

eine Frage stellen = to ask a question

Using fragen directly with Frage (eine Frage fragen) is wrong in standard German.

Patterns to remember:

jemandem eine Frage stellen – to ask someone a question
eine Frage beantworten – to answer a question
auf eine Frage antworten – to answer a question / respond to a question

So in this sentence:

eine Frage – direct object (the thing being posed)
stellen – verb that goes with Frage

Why is the verb stellen at the very end of the sentence?

German main clauses follow the verb-second rule and use a “verb bracket” when there’s more than one verb.

Structure here:

Im Unterricht – element 1 (occupies the first position)
darf – finite verb (must be in 2nd position)
jeder eine Frage – middle field
stellen – infinitive verb at the end

With finite + infinitive (a modal verb plus a main verb), German places:

the finite verb (here: darf) in 2nd position
the infinitive (here: stellen) at the end of the clause

That’s why stellen appears at the end.

Can the word order be changed, for example: Jeder darf im Unterricht eine Frage stellen?

Yes, that order is perfectly correct:

Jeder darf im Unterricht eine Frage stellen.

Both:

Im Unterricht darf jeder eine Frage stellen.
Jeder darf im Unterricht eine Frage stellen.

are grammatical and mean essentially the same.

Nuance:

Starting with Im Unterricht slightly emphasizes the context/setting (“In class, …”).
Starting with Jeder emphasizes who has the right (“Everyone may …”).

German often moves elements to the front for emphasis, as long as the finite verb stays in position 2.

Why is there eine before Frage, but no article before Unterricht?

Two different reasons:

eine Frage
- Frage is a countable feminine noun (“a question”).
- We are talking about one question, not questions in general.
- So we use the indefinite article: eine.
(der) Unterricht
- Unterricht normally behaves like an uncountable noun (“instruction, teaching, class time”).
- In this meaning, you usually do not use an article in generic statements:
  - Ich habe heute Unterricht. – I have class today.
  - Der Unterricht beginnt um neun. – Class/lessons begin at nine.

In im Unterricht, the article is there, but it is hidden in the contraction:

in dem Unterricht → im Unterricht

Could we say Im Unterricht darf jeder Fragen stellen instead of eine Frage stellen? What’s the difference?

Yes, that is also correct, but the nuance changes slightly:

Im Unterricht darf jeder eine Frage stellen.
→ Everyone is allowed to ask one question (or at least: the focus is on a single question).
Im Unterricht darf jeder Fragen stellen.
→ Everyone is allowed to ask questions (in general, possibly several).

In practice, eine Frage stellen can also be understood more loosely (“ask a question when needed”), but grammatically it is singular, while Fragen stellen is clearly plural/general.