man: the subject with no name
English says you, they, people or one when nobody in particular is meant. German has one neutral word for all of these: man. It takes the same verb ending as er, sie, es.
Hier darf man nicht rauchen.
You can't smoke here.
Man sagt, der Sommer wird heiß.
They say the summer is going to be hot.
Wie bezahlt man hier?
How do you pay here?
man exists only as a subject. For the other cases German borrows the forms of ein and sein.
| Case | Form |
|---|---|
| Nominativ | man |
| Akkusativ | einen |
| Dativ | einem |
| Possessive | sein |
So viel Lärm macht einen müde.
That much noise wears you out.
Ein Spaziergang tut einem gut.
A walk does you good.
Man sollte seinen Pass immer dabeihaben.
You should always carry your passport with you.
jemand and niemand
jemand means somebody or anybody, niemand means nobody. Both are singular with the er-form of the verb, and they take the endings of den and dem.
| Case | somebody | nobody |
|---|---|---|
| Nominativ | jemand | niemand |
| Akkusativ | jemanden | niemanden |
| Dativ | jemandem | niemandem |
In casual speech the endings are often dropped.
Hat jemand nach mir gefragt?
Did anybody ask for me?
Ich kenne hier niemanden.
I don't know anybody here.
Sag das bitte niemandem.
Please don't tell anybody.
etwas and nichts
etwas means something or anything, nichts means nothing. They never change their form. In casual speech etwas often becomes was: Hast du was gesagt?
To describe the something, German turns the adjective into a capitalised neuter noun with the ending -es. This also works after viel, wenig and alles. Only anderes stays lower case.
Möchtest du etwas trinken?
Would you like something to drink?
Ich habe heute nichts vor.
I've got nothing planned today.
Gibt es etwas Neues?
Is there anything new?
Reden wir über etwas anderes.
Let's talk about something else.
anderes stays lower case
alle, alles, jeder
These words often stand alone, without a noun. Then they carry the ending that the missing noun would have had.
alle or alles?
alle: people, plural verb
Alle sind gekommen.
Everybody came.
Sind alle einverstanden?
Is everybody in agreement?
alles: things, singular verb
Alles klar?
All good?
Alles ist teurer geworden.
Everything has got more expensive.
jeder (everybody) and keiner (nobody) are singular and take the singular verb, even though English everybody often feels plural.
Jeder macht mal Fehler.
Everybody makes mistakes sometimes.
Keiner hat mir Bescheid gesagt.
Nobody let me know.
Einige von uns fahren mit dem Rad.
Some of us cycle.
