Breakdown of Er kontrakten stadig gyldig?
være
to be
stadig
still (continuing)
kontrakten
the contract
gyldig
valid
Questions & Answers about Er kontrakten stadig gyldig?
Why is a standard question like this included in a lesson about conditional clauses?
Because in Danish, you can create an "if" clause by dropping the word for "if" (hvis) and putting the verb first. This means a conditional clause looks exactly like a yes/no question! Depending on the rest of the sentence, Er kontrakten stadig gyldig can either be a question ("Is the contract still valid?") or a condition ("If the contract is still valid...").
If we use this as an "if" clause, what happens to the word order in the rest of the sentence?
The entire conditional clause counts as the first piece of information in the sentence. Because Danish requires the verb in the second position (V2 rule), the main clause that follows must start with its verb. For example: Er kontrakten stadig gyldig, kan vi fortsætte (If the contract is still valid, we can continue).
Why doesn't the adjective gyldig end with a -t or an -e here?
Gyldig (valid) describes kontrakten (the contract). Because en kontrakt is a singular, common-gender (en) noun, the adjective takes its basic form. If you were describing a neuter (et) noun, it would be gyldigt, and for plurals, it would be gyldige.
Could I use stadigvæk instead of stadig in this sentence?
Yes. Both stadig and stadigvæk mean "still" and are almost always interchangeable. Stadig is just a bit shorter and more frequently used in both speech and writing.