Wie schreibt man Ihren Namen?
I understand the grammar of the above sentence except the word man. What is the meaning of man? Can we omit it, so it would be the following?
Wie schreibt Ihren Namen?
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The German man is an indefinite pronoun replacing a not further specified person or group of persons in a sentence. It only exists in nominative singular and replaces the (essential) subject of your example sentence:
Wie schreiben die Leute Ihren Namen? - Wie schreibt man Ihren Namen?
Personal pronouns have a similar function but they are inflected:
Wie schreibst du deinen Namen? Wie schreiben Sie Ihren Namen? Wie schreibe ich Ihren Namen?
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1If you convert to passive voice, "man" disappears into thin air: "Wie wird Ihr Name geschrieben?" – Hagen von Eitzen Nov 2 '14 at 21:11
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Another way to avoid "man" is to use the reflexive pronoun: "Wie schreibt sich ihr Name?" – RHa Aug 29 at 8:28
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The word "man" is the subject of the sentence. "Man" is the one who writes, and besides the verb itself this is actually the one thing you cannot omit in that sentence. The closest English equivalent to "man" is "one", more idiomatic options are "you" and "people", depending on context.
maninWie schreibt man Ihren Namen?is likeyouinHow do you write your name?– Fantômas Aug 29 at 21:09How does one write your name?and like in that English version, the subject man/one cannot be just omitted (How does write your name?) – cbeleites supports Monica Aug 30 at 19:49youinHow do you write your name?– Fantômas Aug 30 at 21:40