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General Subjunctive
Called Konjunktiv II in German, the general subjunctive is used to express wishes and politeness as well as hypothetical or unreal scenarios. We often encounter the subjunctive with the verbs sein and haben and with modal verbs. The subjunctive only has three tenses: past, present, and future.
Present tense of general subjunctive
To form the present tense subjunctive of strong and irregular verbs, determine the normal (or "indicative", as it is sometimes called) simple past form of the verb. Add an -e and the appropriate person ending, and, if applicable, add an Umlaut to the vowel in the stem. Because the subjunctive present form and the simple past indicative form are the same for weak verbs, the würde+infinitive construction is often used instead. See future tense of general subjunctive for examples. Example sentences:
- Wenn es nur Sommer wäre (If it only were summer).
- Wenn wir nur mehr Zeit hätten (If we only had more time).
- Du könntest öfter schreiben. (You could write more often).
- Wenn es nach ihm ginge, äßen wir immer im Restaurant. (If it were up to him, we'd always eat at the restaurant.)
Examples of formation:
- sein > war > wäre
- haben > hatte > hätte
- müssen > musste >müsste
- gehen > ging > ginge
- essen > aß > äße
- ich wäre, hätte, müsste, ginge, äße
- du wärest, hättest, müsstest, gingest, äßest
- er / sie / es wäre, hätte, müsste, ginge, äße
- wir wären, hätten, müssten, gingen, äßen
- ihr wäret, hättet, müsstet, ginget, äßet
- sie / Sie wären, hätten, müssten, gingen, äßen
Past tense of the general subjunctive
A composite tense, the past subjunctive is used to express what might have happened if the situation had been otherwise. A form of sein or haben is used in connection with the past participle of the verb.
Forms of the auxiliary verbs:
- haben: ich hätte, du hättest, er / sie / es hätte, wir hätten, ihr hättet, sie hätten
- sein: ich wäre, du wärest, er wäre, wir wären, ihr wäret, sie wären.
Example sentences:
- Wenn das das Wetter am Wochenende schön gewesen wäre, hätte Peter in seinem Garten gearbeitet. (If the weather had been nice on the weekend, Peter would have worked in his garden.)
- Er hätte Freunde eingeladen und hätte gegrillt. (He would have invited friends and would have barbecued.)
- Er wäre an den See gefahren. (He would have driven to the lake.)
- Er wäre spazieren gegangen. (He would have gone for a walk.)
- Er hätte in der Sonne gesessen und hätte ein Buch gelesen. (Hew would have sat in the sun and would have read a book.)
Future tense of general subjunctive:
Also called würde+infinitive construction, this form of the subjunctive conveys the same meaning as does the present tense of the general subjunctive described above. This form corresponds to the English would+infinitive construction. In spoken German, this form is usually used instead of the present tense subjunctive. Exceptions are modal verbs and the verbs sein and haben. Examples:
- Ich würde öfter reisen. (I would travel more frequently.)
- Würdest du bitte zuhören? (Would you kindly listen?)
- So einen billigen Computer würden sie nie kaufen. (They would never buy such a cheap computer.)
See also:
Subjunctive
Special subjunctive
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