man

one

pronoun MAN Common

Also means

you

Usage Note

man is the impersonal pronoun for a general 'one, you, people, they' and takes a singular verb (man sagt = 'people say'). Beware the false friend: it is unrelated to der Mann ('the man') and is never capitalised. Its accusative is einen and dative einem.

Examples

"Hier darf man nicht rauchen."

Natural Translation

You can't smoke here.

Literal Translation

Here may one not smoke.

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