Breakdown of Du musst dieses fragwürdige Angebot prüfen, ehe du den Vertrag unterschreibst.
du
you (informal singular)
dieser
this / that (fem.: diese, neut.: dieses)
müssen
to have to, must
der Vertrag
the contract
das Angebot
the offer
unterschreiben
to sign
prüfen
to check / to test
ehe
before
fragwürdig
questionable
Questions & Answers about Du musst dieses fragwürdige Angebot prüfen, ehe du den Vertrag unterschreibst.
How does the suffix -würdig work in the word fragwürdige here?
The suffix -würdig means "worthy of" or "deserving of." When combined with the noun root of die Frage (the question), it creates fragwürdig, meaning "deserving of questions." In this context, it translates to "questionable," "dubious," or "shady."
Could I use -wert instead of -würdig here, like fragwert?
No, fragwert is not a valid word in German. While both suffixes express that something is "worth" something, they form fixed vocabulary words. As a general pattern, -wert often attaches to verb stems (like sehen -> sehenswert for "worth seeing"), whereas -würdig usually attaches to noun roots (like die Frage -> fragwürdig, or das Vertrauen -> vertrauenswürdig).
Why does fragwürdig end in an -e in this sentence?
This is due to adjective declension. Angebot is a neuter noun, and here it is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb prüfen. Because the preceding word dieses already does the heavy lifting by showing the strong neuter ending, the adjective fragwürdig takes the weak ending -e.
Is ehe just a synonym for bevor?
Yes! ehe is a subordinating conjunction meaning "before." It means exactly the same thing as bevor and behaves exactly the same way grammatically, which is why it sends the conjugated verb unterschreibst to the very end of its clause. ehe can sound slightly more formal or literary, but you will frequently encounter it in everyday German.
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