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, siehätten
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 hättegegrillt. (He would have invited friends and would have
barbecued.)
Er wäre anden See gefahren. (He would
have driven to the lake.)
Er wäre spazierengegangen. (He would
have gone for a walk.)
Er hätte in der Sonne gesessen undhätte
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.)