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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:

Examples of formation

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:

Example sentences:

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:

See also:

Subjunctive
Special subjunctive