{"id":11853,"date":"2020-06-24T23:00:42","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T23:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=11853"},"modified":"2020-06-24T10:00:08","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T10:00:08","slug":"whats-the-difference-man-and-mann-in-german","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/whats-the-difference-man-and-mann-in-german\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s The Difference? Man and Mann In German"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re looking at two German words that often confuse learners \u2013 man<\/strong> and Mann.<\/strong> By the end of this post you\u2019ll be able to recognise the difference between these two words, and be able to use them in the correct way. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n

Mann vs man<\/h1>\n

The confusion about these two words is that they look similar, are pronounced in the exact same way, have a sort-of similar meaning, but are different. For this reason, they are often used in place of one another by mistake. So what do these words mean, and how should they be used?<\/p>\n

der Mann<\/h2>\n
\"\"

Man or Mann?! Image by Brooke Cagley via Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

Mann is a German noun<\/strong>, meaning man<\/strong> (male person) or husband.<\/strong> As it is a noun, it comes with a gender \u2013 der \u2013 and is always capitalised<\/strong>, as all nouns are.<\/p>\n

Der Mann ist nett.<\/strong>
\nThe man is friendly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hopefully this is all pretty straight-forward so far. The confusion often comes when confronted with the next word \u2013 man.<\/p>\n

man<\/h2>\n
\"\"

Man or Mann?! Image by Daria Shevtsova via Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

The word man<\/strong> is a German pronoun<\/strong>. It is never capitalised<\/strong>, unless it is at the beginning of a sentence. Its direct translation is \u2018one\u2019,<\/strong> like how in English we say \u2018One shouldn\u2019t do that\u2019. However, while this expression is rarely used in English, it is extremely common in German, and doesn\u2019t sound anywhere near as formal in German as it does in English!<\/p>\n

In that sense, it\u2019s better to translate the German word man as \u2018you\u2019<\/strong> in English: \u2018You shouldn\u2019t do that\u2019 is a lot more common than \u2018One shouldn\u2019t do that\u2019, for example. Often, when we say \u2018You\u2019 in this way we aren\u2019t addressing whoever we\u2019re talking to, but generalising.<\/p>\n

The German word man is like that \u2013 it is used in place of a noun, where the person in question is a generic \u2018somebody\u2019:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Man darf das nicht.<\/strong>
\nYou aren\u2019t allowed to do that (\u2018one is not allowed to do that\u2019).<\/p>\n

Wie tut man das?<\/strong>
\nHow do you do that? (\u2018how does one do that?\u2019)<\/p>\n

Man ist, was man isst.<\/strong>
\nYou are what you eat (\u2018one is what one eats\u2019).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What catches people off guard is that the German word man<\/strong> is the same as the English word man<\/strong>. But the translation of the English word man<\/strong> is der Mann<\/strong> in German \u2013 not<\/em> the German word man<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\n

Der Mann = man\/husband
\nman = one\/you (generic)<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To finish, here are a few sentences and their translations. Some use Mann<\/strong> and some use man<\/strong>. Using what you have learnt in this post, study the sentences and see if you can recognise and understand the way the words are used in each! Viel Gl\u00fcck<\/strong> (good luck)!<\/p>\n

Ein Mann hat mich angerufen.<\/strong>
\nA man called me.<\/p>\n

Darf man hier schwimmen?<\/strong>
\nAre you allowed to swim here?<\/p>\n

Mein Mann hei\u00dft Ludwig.<\/strong>
\nMy husband is called Ludwig.<\/p>\n

Man darf hier schwimmen.<\/strong>
\nYou\u2019re allowed to swim here.<\/p>\n

Wie tut man das?<\/strong>
\nHow do you do that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! Today we\u2019re looking at two German words that often confuse learners \u2013 man and Mann. By the end of this post you\u2019ll be able to recognise the difference between these two words, and be able to use them in the correct way. Let\u2019s get started! Mann vs man The confusion about these two…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":11855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[191027,517059,456997,264,95131,451644,376023,533785,980,1401],"class_list":["post-11853","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-confusion","tag-dont-let-it-confuse-you","tag-easy-language-learning","tag-false-friends","tag-german-language","tag-german-words","tag-language","tag-mann-vs-man","tag-same-words","tag-words"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t