man, einen, einem: saying "you" and "one" as an object in German
The German pronoun man means one, you or people in general: Man sagt, dass … (People say that …). It has only one form, and it can only be the subject of a sentence. When the general you or one is the object, German uses einen in the accusative and einem in the dative. The reflexive form is sich and the possessive is sein.
What man means
man refers to people in general or to an unnamed person. English uses several words for this, depending on the style: you in everyday speech, one in formal English, people or they. German uses man for all of them, and it is very common in both speech and writing.
man takes the same verb form as er and sie (third person singular). It is written with a small m and only one n. Der Mann (the man) is a different word.
Man sagt, das Wetter wird morgen besser.They say the weather will be better tomorrow.
Hier darf man nicht parken.You can't park here.
Wie schreibt man das?How do you spell that?
Man kann nie wissen.You never know.
man as an object: einen and einem
Because man has no object forms, German borrows them from ein. The accusative is einen, the dative is einem. These forms are unstressed and simply mean you or one in the general sense, not a person or one person.
| Case | Form | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | man | Man wird schnell müde. | You get tired quickly. |
| Accusative | einen | Das macht einen müde. | That makes you tired. |
| Dative | einem | So etwas kann einem passieren. | That can happen to anyone. |
| Reflexive | sich | Man muss sich beeilen. | You have to hurry. |
| Possessive | sein | Man vergisst schnell seinen Schirm. | It's easy to forget your umbrella. |
So etwas ärgert einen.That kind of thing annoys you.
Wenn einem kalt ist, sollte man eine Jacke anziehen.If you're cold, you should put on a jacket.
Die Stadt gefällt einem sofort.You like the city straight away.
Der Lärm lässt einen nicht schlafen.The noise doesn't let you sleep.
The dative einem appears often with verbs and expressions that take a dative, such as gefallen, helfen, leidtun, schwerfallen and the construction mir ist kalt: Im Winter ist einem hier ständig kalt. (In winter you're always cold here.)
Keep man throughout the sentence
In English it is normal to start with one and continue with he or you, or to vary the wording to avoid repetition. In German, once a sentence starts with man, it continues with man, einen, einem, sich or sein. Repeating man is not considered bad style.
Common mistake
Wenn man müde ist, sollte er schlafen. is wrong; correct: Wenn man müde ist, sollte man schlafen.
er would refer to a specific man. The general subject stays man throughout the sentence.
Common mistake
Das macht man müde. is wrong; correct: Das macht einen müde.
man can only be the subject. Here das is the subject and the general you is the object, so the accusative form einen is needed.
sein or ihr?
The possessive that goes with man is sein, regardless of who is meant: Man muss seine Fahrkarte vorher kaufen. (You have to buy your ticket in advance.) Using ihr or dein here would be a mistake in standard German.
man instead of the passive
man is often the simplest way to say that something is done without saying who does it. Where English uses the passive, German frequently uses man. The passive exists in German too, but man sounds more natural in everyday language.
Hier spricht man Deutsch.German is spoken here.
Das macht man so.This is how it's done.
Man hat mir das Fahrrad gestohlen.My bike has been stolen.
The page on the passive shows when the passive itself is the better choice, for example in formal writing and in instructions.
du as a general you
In casual speech, many Germans use du in the general sense, just as English uses you: Wenn du in Berlin wohnst, brauchst du kein Auto. This is normal in conversation, but in writing and in formal situations man is the better choice. With du, the object forms are dich and dir, as usual.
man, jemand and niemand
man is general. If you mean a specific but unknown person, use jemand (someone): Jemand hat angerufen. (Someone called.) Man hat angerufen sounds odd, because a phone call is made by one specific person. For no one, the word is niemand. Both are covered on the page about indefinite pronouns.
Check yourself
For the case forms behind einen and einem, see the pages on the accusative, the dative and reflexive verbs. The indefinite pronouns test includes questions on man.
Written by: Fatih Ün, German teacher · Last updated: