Wenn das Wörtchen "wenn" nicht wär', wär' mein Vater Millionär. Conjugation German verb tragen (carry, wear ...): in present, past, subjunctive, perfect, ... many examples, translations, grammar, rules, speech output, definitions, exercises and downloads. Take your language learning to the next level with our popular e-book. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. Pronunciation Links

In Germany, this type of subjunctive is far more common used and further more, the ability to create hypothetical situations, express doubt over an idea and wish yourself into anything you want to be. In English, you could compare it to the subjunctive forms like in this sentence: “If I had a lot of money I would travel the world”. The imperfect tense and the imperfect subjunctive of weak verbs are identical. Essentially, the subjunctive mood is used when there is an element of doubt or when something has not yet happened contained within the thought. One may choose to report speech in Subjunctive II (even when there is no ambiguity) to indicate that one doubts the truth of the statement. This is where we’ll start. So, in these latter three, the rule is simple: The auxiliary verb is conjugated in Konjunktiv I. Colloquial speech is most comfortable with constructions employing "would" (the subjunctive form of "will"):

In fact, "If I were rich..." refers to an undetermined time not in the past - it could be in the present or the future. Konjunktiv II is where the magic happens. (He said he will have apologized before Monday.). Wenn ich eine Weltreise machen würde, müsste ich meinen Hund zu Hause lassen.

Wenn ich dieses Lied wüsste, würde ich es singen. So, here are some examples with the most common verbs used for expressing things in conjunctive 2. Ich wüsste nicht, was ich dir sagen könnte. The German subjunctive, in German you call it “Konjunktiv” consists of two parts.First, we have the “Konkinktiv 1” and second, the “Konjunktiv 2”.Well, these two cases of German conjunctive are constructed differently and, of course, also have different meanings. Since there is only one past subjunctive, the subjunctive form corresponding to indicative simple past will still be the same: ich ging and ich bin gegangen [I went] ==> ich wäre gegangen [I would have gone]; ich sagte and ich habe gesagt [I said] ==> ich hätte gesagt. So the German for this would be “Ich wünschte, ich wäre ein Hund” using present subjunctive. Writer, critic of his times, opponent of nationalism and militarism. It can, for example, express the future. Because the subjunctive mood lets you imagine things; it lets you tell stories and it lets you dream. First, think of the adaption of the imperfect and second, think of auxiliary verbs used when forming Konjunktiv 2. You’re not going to fully learn German grammar just by studying what’s in your textbook. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list. DWDS Wortinformation “Oh no, why have I opened this page? If there is an, The imperfect subjunctive forms of the mixed verbs. Leipzig Wortschatz Deutsch These are both examples of Konjunktiv II. Kurt Tucholsky lived here from 1920 to 1924. "Sollen" and "wollen," however, do not add an umlaut: sollte, wollte. Wenn ich das damals gewusst hätte, würde ich jetzt ein reicher Mann sein. The former is direct speech; the latter is indirect speech, and uses Subjunctive I. So there we are. They are expressions of desire, much like wishing, which is also used in the subjunctive mood. There are two ways of introducing indirect speech in German, as in English.

Subjunctive I often looks very similar to the present or perfect indicative–the difference is only really obvious in the third person singular, where Subjunctive I has a characteristic -e ending instead of the -t you would expect from present indicative. For example: So you see, it’s pretty straight forward. With the subjunctive you can express your desires that—up until now—the indicative “I want” has made rude or boring. FluentU is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Present Perfect; Conversational Past]: what happened (informal), Haben/Sein + past participle: Ich bin gegangen: I went, I was going [inform.].

But for haben, sein and the modal verbs, use the one-word form: ich hätte ich würde haben (I would have); ich wäre ich würde sein (I would be); ich könnte ich würde können (I would be able to) etc.

Canoo Wörterbücher und Grammatik, Usage Resources Old Romanian, on the other hand, used a periphrastic construction with the imperfect of vrea 'to want' + verb, e.g. A leap of faith perhaps, but it serves our purpose. “I want” doesn’t get you there. So, just keep in mind that the subjunctive 2 is used to express doubt, or when something has not yet happened contained within the thought. DWDS Wortinformation Third Person Requests, Suggestions, or Wishes, This use occurs particularly in formal writing, and in older texts, A special case of this is the phrase sei es, translated as be it. ", "If you lived here, you would be home now. This is particularly true for plural forms in which the subjunctive and the imperfect forms are identical: wir gingen(we went - imperfect, past) and wir gingen (we would have gone - subjunctive). First, we have the “Konkinktiv 1” and second, the “Konjunktiv 2”. Past: Subjunctive I of “haben” or “sein” + past participle, Note that there is only one past subjunctive tense to correspond to all three indicative past tenses (present perfect, simple past and past perfect). ), Past: Er sagte, er sei nicht gegangen. And whether they’re irregular or regular, weak or strong, they are all formed from the stem of their imperfect conjugation. So, in order to construct the subjunctive in German you just have to remind of two things. Good luck! Hätte/Wäre + past participle: Ich wäre gegangen: I would have gone; Ich hätte gesagt: I would have said, [Compare the indicative forms: Ich bin gegangen; Ich habe gesagt–just change sein to wäre and haben to hätte.]. Wikipedia – Deutsch It seems as if one could travel faster than the speed of light. Just like English, German uses the simple past forms as a basis for the general subjunctive.

because it builds off past tense forms, but it does not necessarily refer to the past. Therefore, in order to avoid ambiguity, those forms of Subjunctive I are avoided, and Subjunctive II is used instead. indirect discourse, Hatte/War + past participle: Ich war gegangen: I had gone [before I did some other thing], Future: what will happen [definitely, not hypothetically; use werde/wirst/wird… not würde, würdest…], Werden [conjugated] + infinitive: Ich werde gehen: I will go. Click here to get a copy. All verb forms are based very closely on the infinitive ==> there’s no exceptions to memorize when you learn Subjunctive I! Plusquamperfekt]: what had happened before something else in the past happened: only rarely used; especially with bevor and nachdem! Use for Indirect Speech & Reporting Thoughts/Beliefs/Opinions, Replacement of Subjunctive I by Subjunctive II, Index of Video Lectures, Deutsch 101 & 102, Sie sagte: “Ich kann tanzen wenn ich will”, She said she could dance if she wanted to, She says she will leave her friends behind, (Let the reader) Imagine a world without eggs. PONS Online Dictionary

Note 2: For the modals, the one-word subjunctive has an umlaut if the infinitive has one: könnte, dürfte, möchte and müßte, but sollte and konnte.