Subjunctive II or General Subjunctive (Conditional) Flashcards
Subjunctive:
This subjunctive mood is used to make statements that are contrary to fact, instead of factual statements that are made in the indicative mood. There are two forms of the German subjunctive: Subjunctive II and Subjunctive I. Subjunctive II or the general subjunctive is used with if…then (wenn… dann) statements and conditional sentences. Subjunctive I or special subjunctive is a less common mood that is used with indirect discourse. (If you study other languages with a subjunctive mood, please don’t confuse it with the German subjunctive. They are not the same!)
Present Tense of Subjunctive II:
Thepresent tense of Subjunctive IIis derived from the simple past / imperfect tense of the indicative. For weak (regular) verbs, the subjunctive II is the same as the simple past tense. For strong (irregular) verbs, the present tense of the subjunctive II uses the stem of the simple past, adds an umlaut where possible, and then adds the following endings:
- e
- est
- e
- en
- et
- en
Strong Verbs in the Subjunctive II:
gehen: ginge gingest ginge gingen ginget gingen
fahren: führe führest führe führen führet führen
fliegen: flöge flögest flöge flögen flöget flögen
Sein, Haben and Werden in the Subjunctive II:
sein: wäre wärest wäre wären wäret wären
haben: hätte hättest hätte hätten hättet hätten
werden: würde würdest würde würden würdet würden
Exceptions:
Some exceptions include the mixed verbs, modals and wissen which use the same endings as the simple past:
Imperfekt | Subjunctive II brachte | brächte dachte | dächte durfte | dürfte konnte | könnte mochte | möchte sollte | sollte wollte | wollte mußte | müßte wußte | wüßte
Past Tense of Subjunctive II:
Thepast tense of Subjunctive IIis simply the subjunctive II of sein or haben (whichever auxiliary the verb takes in the indicative) and a past participle. Thefuture tense of Subjunctive IIis the subjunctive II of werden and an infinitive.
Conditional Sentences:
These sentences are based on an if… then (wenn… dann)patternin both English and German. Dann can be omitted in these sentences also. Remember that wenn is a subordinating conjunction, and forces the conjugated verb to the end of the clause.
Present Subj. II:Wenn ich Zeithätte, (dann)gingeich ins Kino. If I had time, (then) I would go to the movies.
Past Subj. II:Wenn ich Zeitgehabt hätte, dannwäreich ins Kinogegangen. If I had had time, (then) I would have gone to the movies.
Wenn Clauses:
case,wenndisappears and dann may be replaced byso:
Kommt er heute nicht, (so) kommt er morgen.If he’s not coming today, then he’ll come tomorrow.
Dann Clause:
A conditional sentence may begin with thedann clauseas well; but in this case,dannis not actually used and the clause uses normal word order:
Wir trinken den Kaffee nicht, wenn er zu heiß ist.We don’t drink coffee if it is too hot.
Forms of Würden + an Infinitive
Würde and an infinitive translates towould + infinitiveand is more common than the one word form in thedann clause. Wenn clausestend to avoid the würde construction, except with these eight verbs: helfen, stehen, sterben, werfen, brennen, kennen, nennen, and rennen. These eight verbs use the würde construction in thewenn clausebecause the one word forms are archaic. Moreover, conversational German tends to replace many subjunctive II forms of strong verbs with the würde construction. However, this construction is generally not used with the modal auxiliaries, wissen, haben or sein.
Wenn ich Zeit hätte, | danngingeich ins Kino./dannwürdeich ins Kinogehen. | If I had time, I would go to the movies.
Wenn ich Geld hätte, | dannflögeich nach Deutschland./dannwürdeich nach/Deutschlandfliegen. | If I had money, I would fly to Germany.
