Breakdown of Man måste undvika farlig mat.
maten
the food
måste
to have to, must
man
one, you (people in general)
undvika
to avoid
Questions & Answers about Man måste undvika farlig mat.
Does man mean "a man" or "you" in this sentence?
Here, man is a generic pronoun meaning "one" or "you" in a general sense (referring to people in general). It doesn't mean a specific male person. If you were talking about a male person, you would use the noun en man (a man) or mannen (the man).
If I wanted to say "Dangerous food can make you sick," would I still use man?
No. Man is only used as a subject (the one doing the action). If the general "you" is the object of the sentence (receiving the action), you must use en. So "Dangerous food makes you sick" would be "Farlig mat gör en sjuk."
Could I just use du instead of man here?
Yes, you can. Just like in English, spoken Swedish sometimes uses du to mean "you" in a general sense. However, man is the standard, most natural way to express "people in general" and is very common in both speech and writing.
Why is there no att (to) before undvika (avoid)?
Måste (must) is a modal verb. In Swedish, just like in English, modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive form of the next verb without using att. You say måste undvika (must avoid), not "must to avoid".