Breakdown of Ehe wir den Stahl biegen, muss er im Feuer glühen.
er
he
wir
we
müssen
to have to, must
das Feuer
the fire
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
der Stahl
the steel
ehe
before
glühen
to glow (from heat)
biegen
to bend
Questions & Answers about Ehe wir den Stahl biegen, muss er im Feuer glühen.
Is ehe completely interchangeable with bevor in this sentence?
Yes! Both ehe and bevor are subordinating conjunctions that mean "before." The word ehe sounds slightly more literary or formal, but grammatically they do the exact same thing: they send the conjugated verb (biegen) to the end of their clause.
Why does the second clause start with the verb muss instead of the pronoun er?
In German, the conjugated verb in a main clause must take the second position. The entire subordinate clause (Ehe wir den Stahl biegen) counts as block one. Therefore, the verb muss has to come immediately after the comma to occupy position two.
Why does the sentence use er to mean "it"?
The pronoun er refers back to der Stahl (the steel). Because Stahl is a grammatically masculine noun, it must be replaced by the masculine pronoun er, even though we translate it as "it" in English.
Why is it im Feuer instead of ins Feuer?
im is the contraction of in dem, which is the dative case. The word in is a two-way preposition. Because the steel is glowing in a fixed place (a static location) rather than moving into the fire (a change of location), we must use the dative case here instead of the accusative.
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