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Summary

• Use Subjunctive II for contrary-to-fact statements: what you would do or would have done, but really aren't doing/really didn't do. It's ideal for spineless, wishy washy, Pisces-type losers. Use it also for wishes and polite requests (more Pisces stuff...).  Click here for more details and examples. If you're a Pisces, you probably won't be offended by the silly little jokes on this page about what Pisces people are like, but if you're a Scorpio and you're in love with a Pisces and this makes you mad, you should know that I'm a Pisces and that I'm just kidding. My therapist is helping me love myself the way I am.
• Present subjunctive can be formed in two ways: "würde + infinitive" or a one-word form based on the simple past form of the verb.

 

ich würde gehen ich ginge

I would go


The two forms mean the same, but the one-word form is considered more formal and is falling into disuse.  For haben, sein and the modal verbs, however, the one-word form is preferable, and we will require you to use it on tests.  For all other verbs, use whichever form you prefer, but stick to "würde + infinitive" if you're in doubt.  Click here for more details and examples.

• There is only one way to form the past subjunctive.  It is based on the perfect tense of the verb:

 

Infinitiv	Perfekt	Konjunktiv II	Englisch
essen	ich habe gegessen	ich hätte gegessen	I would have eaten
rennen	ich bin gerannt	ich wäre gerannt	I would have run


To form past subjunctive, just change "haben" to "hätte" and "sein" to "wäre."  Click here for more details and examples.

• Present subjunctive with a modal verb is just what you would expect:

 

Manni sollte die Tasche nicht vergessen.	Manni should not forget the bag.
Dann müsste Lola nicht rennen.	Then Lola would not have to run.


To form the past subjunctive with a modal verb, you need to use a double infinitive.  The auxiliary verb will always be "hätte," even if the main verb is a verb of motion or describes a change of state:
 

Manni hätte die Tasche nicht vergessen sollen.	Manni should not have forgotten the bag.
Dann hätte Lola nicht rennen müssen.	Then Lola would not have had to run.


Click here for more details and examples.

• Common mistakes that indicate you have not understood the subjunctive are using "würde" (which is used to form the present subjunctive) with a past participle of a verb (which is used to form the past subjunctive), or using "hätte" or "wäre" (which are used to form the past subjunctive) with the infinitive of the verb (which is used to form the present subjunctive):

 

Falsch	Richtig
Ich würde gegangen. Ich wäre gehen.	Ich würde gehen. [=I would go] Ich wäre gegangen. [=I would have gone]


 
• Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Rumanian have Conditional and Subjunctive moods. German Subjunctive II corresponds much more closely to the Conditional mood in these languages (used for saying what you would do or would have done) than to the Subjunctive mood, which is used in these languages primarily in conjunction with certain verbs expressing beliefs, desires and uncertainties (and corresponds to some extent to the Subjunctive I in German in this respect).
   
• Pisces are sweet, lovable people who might smoke.  Don't let anyone hurt their feelings.

Practice Exercises

Konjunktiv oder Indikativ? Get a feel for the Subjunctive by deciding if these statements are subjunctive or not. Note: We had a bit of fun writing the detailed feedback for this exercise. Of course we hope you'll find it helpful and perhaps amusing, but if you find it annoying or confusing, please just ignore the detailed feedback and focus on the basic "right" and "wrong" feedback. There are 31 items here, so that should give you plenty of practice.

Was würde Emeril Lagasse machen? Practice using "würde + infinitive" to form present subjunctive statements about how the famous Food Network chef would make hot dogs.

Emeril Lagasse im Märchen More present subjunctive practice using Emeril Lagasse: this time, say what he would do in various fairy tales.

Präsens oder Vergangenheit? Practice distinguishing present and past subjunctive:

• ...in an exercise based on Rotkäppchen [=Little Red Riding Hood]
• ...in an exercise based on Schneewittchen [=Snow White]

Richtig oder falsch? Which of these sentences contains the common mistakes described on this page? [Mixing present and past subjunctive (würde & past participle, or hätte/wäre + infinitive) or failing to use a double infinitive for a past subjunctive statement involving a modal verb]

Das Studentenleben Choose the correct present or past subjunctive form. Half of the items involve modal verbs. Going through these should really help you understand the distinction between present and past subjunctive, and should help you understand how to use modal verbs in the present and past subjunctive.

Sätze formen Write logical sentences in the past or present subjunctive based on the prompts.

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Uses of Subjunctive II: Contrary-to-fact Statements

Technically, the subjunctive is a "mood," not a "tense"--odd terminology, but fun: sometimes you're in the mood for the facts ==> you use the regular, indicative mood, other times you're in the mood for what would be, for wishing, for "if only" statements ==> you use the subjunctive mood.  Just as the indicative mood has various tenses, the subjunctive mood has a present tense and a past tense.

You use the subjunctive mood when you want to talk about how things would, could or should be, how things would, could or should have been--the point being, however, that these are contrary-to-fact ("counterfactual") statements, i.e. this is not how things actually are or were.  Here are some examples:
 

Wenn-statements

Generally, wenn-statements are counterfactual: "If X was the case, then Y would be the case" (but X is not the case) ==> generally, they require subjunctive:
 

In "if"-statements about future events, the choice between indicative and subjunctive is sometimes dependent on how you perceive a situation:
 

A Note on "Would" in the sense of "Used to"

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Other uses of Subjunctive II

Wishes

Here are some examples.  Note the verb position in each case: verb second after "Ich wünschte," verb final after "Wenn...nur" and "Es wäre toll/schön, wenn...."
 

For the second sentence in each of the above examples, note that "es gäbe" is the subjunctive of "es gibt" [=there is/are] ==> means "there would be."

Polite requests

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Present Subjunctive Forms

Forming the One-Word Form

For strong (irregular) verbs, the one-word form consists of the simple past stem with an umlaut added if possible, and with the same pattern of endings used for weak verbs:
 

There are some exceptions to these rules, notably the mixed verbs, some of which have vowel changes, some of which don't (denken ==> dächte, bringen ==> brächte, wissen ==> wüsste, but nennen ==> nennte, rennen ==> rennte etc.), and some strong verbs with unpredictable vowel changes that occur only in Subjunctive II.  However, irregular subjunctives of this sort have almost completely disappeared from ordinary usage ==> we will not go into these.  The only ones of which you should be aware because they might occur in texts you might read, or occasionally in speech, are:
 

We don't expect you to be able to produce these forms on tests: just use "würde + infinitive," which will in any case be better, except perhaps for "wissen"--see below.

Würde + infinitive versus the one-word form:

Verbs for which the one-word form is often used:

For most other verbs, you can generally assume that the one-word form will sound quite formal.

Weak verbs

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Past Subjunctive Forms

Click here to see a dumb joke involving past subjunctive

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Subjunctive with Modals

To form the past subjunctive with a modal verb, you need to use a double infinitive.  The auxiliary verb will always be "hätte," even if the main verb is a verb of motion or describes a change of state:
 

Students sometimes think that the double infinitive construction is hard, but actually the only hard part is remembering that you have to use it, since you only need infinitives and the auxiliary verb will always be hätte and not wäre. Here's a sample sentence from Lonka, age 2 3/4:

Mama, wenn wir heute kein Apfelmuesli gehabt hätten, hätte ich Eierpfannkuchen essen können.

Mom, if we hadn't had Apfelmuesli today, I could have eaten [German-style] pancakes.

Past subjunctive with modals is most commonly used with können [==> I could have...], sollen [==> I should have...] and müssen [==> I would have had to... or I really should have...].  Here is a complete table of the possibilities:
 

"I could": Indicative vs. Subjunctive Revisited

The English "could" can denote indicative or subjunctive moods.  Here's how to tell the difference:

If could indicates something you might do in the future, it's subjunctive: "Ich könnte ein 'A' in diesem Kurs bekommen."  If it indicates something you were or were not able to do in the past, it's just the past tense of "können," not subjunctive: "Ich konnte letztes Semester ein 'A' in meinem Deutschkurs bekommen" [no umlaut on "konnte"].  For what you could have done in the past (but didn't), you need past subjunctive ==> the double infinitive construction: Ich hätte ein 'A' bekommen können, wenn ich mehr gelernt hätte."  More examples:
 

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Common Pitfalls

Mixing Present and Past Subjunctive

Comparison/Contrast with Spanish/French/Italian/Portuguese/Rumanian

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