B1 · Pronouns
man and es
the two pronouns with no English equivalent
One stands for anybody at all; the other stands for nothing and holds a position open.
Man is an impersonal subject meaning "people in general", "you", "one", "somebody" — whichever English would use. It takes a third-person singular verb, has an accusative einen and a dative einem, and no plural. It is completely neutral in register, which is why it appears in both a legal text and a text message.
Es has a second life as a placeholder that means nothing at all. It is the subject of weather verbs (es regnet), of es gibt, and of a family of expressions about how somebody is (es geht mir gut, es tut mir leid).
The placeholder es also holds the first position open when nothing else wants it, and disappears the moment something does. Es kamen viele Gäste becomes Gestern kamen viele Gäste — the es is gone, and the sentence has not lost a subject, because it never had that one.
Die Form
| nominative only | Man sagt, ... |
| accusative | Das ärgert einen. |
| dative | Das hilft einem nicht. |
| weather es | Es regnet seit gestern. |
| placeholder es | Es kamen viele Gäste. / Gestern kamen viele Gäste. |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
man takes a third-person singular verb and stands only in the nominative.
Hier darf man nicht parken.You are not allowed to park here.
Its accusative is einen and its dative einem, borrowed from ein.
So etwas ärgert einen.That sort of thing is annoying.
es is the subject of weather verbs and of es gibt.
Es gibt hier kein Netz.There is no signal here.
A placeholder es disappears when another element takes the first position.
Gestern wurde viel geredet.A lot was said yesterday.
Genauer hingesehen
Why es gibt takes an accusative
Es gibt is read literally by the grammar: es is the subject and geben is an ordinary transitive verb, so whatever it gives is its object and stands in the accusative. Es gibt einen Bahnhof, not ein Bahnhof.
That also explains why it never changes for number: es gibt zwei Bahnhöfe keeps the singular verb, because the subject is still es. English "there is" and "there are" agree with what follows and German does not, which makes this construction simpler than the English one it replaces.
Ausnahmen und Sonderfälle (2)
-
the sentence needs an impersonal object rather than a subject
man is impossible and einen or einem is used.
Das kann einem leicht passieren.That can easily happen to anybody.
Man exists only in the nominative, so the other cases are borrowed from ein.
-
es is a real pronoun standing for a neuter noun
it behaves normally and cannot be dropped.
Das Buch? Ich habe es gelesen.The book? I have read it.
Only the empty placeholder disappears; a pronoun with something to refer to stays.
Woran man es erkennt
- man
- einen
- einem
- es gibt
- es regnet
- es geht
Beispielsätze
Man weiß nie, was passiert.You never know what will happen.
Wie schreibt man das?How do you spell that?
Es gibt zwei Möglichkeiten.There are two possibilities.
Wie geht es Ihnen?How are you?
Es hat die ganze Nacht geschneit.It snowed all night.
Noch 8 Beispielsätze
Man sollte das vorher klären.That should be sorted out beforehand.
Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch?How do you say that in German?
Es ist mir egal.I don't mind.
Es fehlt an allem.Everything is lacking.
Man kann nie wissen.You never know.
Es tut mir leid, dass das passiert ist.I am sorry that happened.
Es waren mehr Leute da als erwartet.There were more people there than expected.
Wenn man ehrlich ist, war es zu teuer.If one is honest, it was too expensive.
Besonderheiten (2)
-
man is not der Mann
They are pronounced almost identically and are two different words: <z>man</z> with one <z>n</z> is the pronoun, <z>Mann</z> with two is the noun. The spelling is the only thing keeping them apart in writing, and getting it wrong is one of the few German mistakes that a native speaker also makes.
Ein Mann sagte, man solle warten.A man said one should wait.
-
es appears where English has no subject at all
German sentences require a subject in a way English sentences sometimes do not, so <z>es</z> is supplied: <z>Es freut mich</z>, <z>es lohnt sich</z>, <z>es geht um etwas anderes</z>. Reading these as "it" referring to something is a mistake — the <z>es</z> refers to nothing and is there because the grammar wants a subject.
Es lohnt sich nicht.It is not worth it.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
Man looks invariable and the sentence around it is not. The possessive belonging to man is sein and it declines like any other: seinen Ausweis in the accusative. The pronoun itself has no case beyond the nominative, but everything agreeing with it does.
man is always the subject. Everything around it still declines.
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