"sagt man" or "man sagt"

Question

I am just starting my journey to German language, so please excuse me for my trivial question.

What is the difference between "sagt man" and "man sagt". How would I understand where to use right one?

Do you have a specific context in mind? Can you give an example sentence? — Wrzlprmft, Aug 19 '14 at 09:38
The other question is with "es gibt" ... just replace "es" with "man" and "gibt" with "sagt" — Emanuel, Aug 19 '14 at 10:56
Thank you! I didn't know this rule yet. I am learning by myself. Danke! — Worker, Aug 19 '14 at 13:23

Hulk · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-19T10:02:51.103

6

Overly simplified:

Sagt man "X"?

is the word order used to create a question.

Man sagt "X".

Is a statement.

The first word order is also used in constructions with subordinate clauses

Wenn man jemanden begrüßen möchte, sagt man "Guten Tag".

edited Aug 19 '14 at 10:02

answered Aug 19 '14 at 09:22

Hulk

Clarification: VS order always used when the vorfeld is already taken - it doesn't have to be taken by a subclause: "In Schottland gibt es Seeungeheuer, sagt man." – Kilian Foth Aug 19 '14 at 15:22
True - also see Emanuels answer in the question he proposed as a duplicate, which has more examples – Hulk Aug 19 '14 at 15:25

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '14 at 09:52

0

construction "sagt man" is used when form question with or without "W-Frage".

Example:

Sagt man etwas?

or

Wie sagt man?

answered Aug 19 '14 at 09:52

veljasije

2 Answers2