German · Chapter 10 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
Konjunktiv 2: would, could, should
Every polite request, hypothetical and regret runs through one form, and most of it survives as würde plus an infinitive.
The short version
Say wäre and hätte, not würde sein
Most German verbs build would with würde plus the infinitive. The most common ones do not: sein, haben and the modals have their own short forms. würde sein and würde haben are understood but sound like a learner. A German says wäre, hätte and könnte.
Das wäre schön.
Order with hätte gern, not ich will
Ich will means I want, and said across a counter it sounds like a demand. Ich hätte gern and ich möchte are both Konjunktiv 2, and both turn the same request into a polite one. It is the first subjunctive most people ever need, and it costs nothing to learn.
Ich hätte gern einen Kaffee.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
Read the full article · 8 min readPractice
Practise this lesson
10-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 16 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.
German · Free printables
Worksheets for this lesson
Worksheets with answer keys built in. Open any one to view, print or save.
Free for members
The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.
Start your free weekLesson 8 of 22 in this chapter