Konjunktiv – the Subjunctive Mood in German Grammar

What is the Subjunctive II?

The Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) is the verb form that we use for polite requests, wishes, suggestions, theories and hypothetical situations.

Even if you’ve never learned the Subjunctive II explicitly, you’ve most likely used it without realising. This is because the Subjunctive II appears in common phrases like:

Examples:

Ich hätte gern …I’d like …

Ich möchte …I’d like …

Ich würde gern …I would like to …

Könnten Sie …Could you …

Often, we can translate the Subjunctive II with English phrases like would, should and could.

When to use the Subjunctive II in German

We use the German Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) for:

• wishes

Example:

Ich wünschte, ich hätte einen Plan.I wish I had a plan.

Das würde ich gern machen.I would love to do that.

• sentences with wenn (see conditional clauses)

Example:

Wenn ich ein Jahr frei hätte, würde ich die Welt bereisen.If I had a year off, I would travel the world.

• polite requests

Example:

Würdest du mir ihre Telefonnummer geben?Would you give me her phone number?

• suggestions

Example:

Vielleicht könntest du ein Jahr freinehmen.Maybe you could take a year off.

• theories and guesses

Examples:

Die Planung wäre bestimmt kompliziert.Planning it would definitely be complicated.

Sie würde sich freuen, dir zu helfen.She would be happy to help you.

• regrets and reimagining the past (past subjunctive)

Example:

Hätte ich nur früher daran gedacht!If only I’d thought of that sooner!

How to conjugate the Subjunctive II in German

We form the Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) differently depending on whether we are referring to a present situation or a past one.

Examples:

Ich würde dir helfen.I would help you. (present Subjunctive II)

talking about the present

Ich hätte dir geholfen.I would have helped you. (past Subjunctive II)

imagining a past situation as different

Present Subjunctive II: würde + infinitive

In the present Subjunctive II, most verbs are conjugated with the subjunctive of werden + infinitive.

Present Subjunctive II: modal verbs

We conjugate the modal verbs (as well as a handful of others) in the Subjunctive II by adding the subjunctive endings to the simple past stem and adding an umlaut.

Note: the modal verbs sollen and wollen do not take umlauts in the Subjunctive II, meaning that their Subjunctive II forms are identical to their past tense forms (ich sollte/wollte, du solltest/wolltest, er/sie/es sollte/wollte, wir sollten/sollten, ihr solltet/wolltet, sie sollten/wollten).

Past Subjunctive II: hätte/wäre + past participle

If we want to talk about a situation in the past, we use the subjunctive of haben/sein + past participle. This is similar to the English would have done/said/asked …

Past Subjunctive II: modal verbs

We conjugate modal verbs in the past Subjunctive II as follows: form of hätte + infinitive + modal verb infinitive. This is similar to the English should have, could have or must have done/said/asked …

Examples:

Du hättest gehen können.You could have left.

Wir hätten das sehen müssen.We should have seen that.

What is the Subjunctive I?

The Subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I) is the verb form we use in news reports when statements are repeated as indirect speech.

Example:

Direct speech: Er sagte: „Ich habe kein Interesse an den Diamanten.”

Indirect speech: Er sagt, er habe kein Interesse an den Diamanten.

The Subjunctive I allows the speaker to distance themselves from the information being repeated.

When to use the Subjunctive I

We use the Subjunctive I for:

• indirect speech, but usually only in news reports. In everyday speech, we use the indicative to repeat statements.

Example:

In the news: Er sagte, er habe kein Interesse an den Diamanten.He said that he has no interest in the diamonds.

In everyday speech: Er sagte, er hat kein Interesse an den Diamanten.He said that he’s not interested in the diamonds.

• some idiomatic expressions.

Example:

Hoch lebe das Geburtstagskind!Long live the birthday boy!

Given its limited use, as a learner it’s usually enough to be able to recognise the Subjunctive I rather than use it actively.

How to conjugate the Subjunctive I in German

The Subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I) is almost always used in the 3rd person singular; we form this by removing the final -n from the infinitive.

Examples:

haben – er habe

sehen – er sehe

können – er könne

The verb sein is unique in the Subjunctive I: ich sei, du sei(e)st, er sei, wir seien, ihr sei(e)t, sie seien.

Example:

Er sagte, sie seien im Kino.He said they were in the cinema.

In addition to the present tense, we can also use the Subjunctive I in the present perfect and the future tenses by using the Subjunctive I of the help verbs.

Examples:

er sei gegangen/er habe gesagt (Present Perfect)

er werde gehen (Future)

er werde gegangen sein/er werde gesagt haben (Future Perfect)

Avoiding the Subjunctive I

We prefer to use the Subjunctive II instead of the Subjunctive I:

• when the Subjunctive I conjugations for the ich, wir and sie/Sie forms are identical to the indicative.

Examples:

haben – ich habe, du habest, er habe, wir haben, ihr habet, sie haben
Er sagt, sie haben kein Zeit. → Er sagt, sie hätten keine Zeit.He said that they had no time.

sehen – ich sehe, du sehest, er sehe, wir sehen, ihr sehet, sie sehen
Er sagt, sie sehen nach. → Er sagt, sie würden nachsehen.He said that they would check.

• instead of the 2nd person forms of the Subjunctive I.

Example:

Du sagst, du habest keine Zeit. → Du sagst, du hättest keine Zeit.You said you had no time.