Konjunktiv 2 in German: Would, Could and Should Have

Konjunktiv 2 is how German says would. It covers every hypothetical, every polite request, every wish and every regret, and in modern German it is much smaller than the textbook tables make it look: würde plus an infinitive for almost every verb, and a short list of about eight special forms for the verbs you use most. Learn those and you have the German subjunctive that people actually speak.

Ich würde gern kommen. - I would like to come.

Das wäre schön. - That would be nice.

Könnten Sie mir helfen? - Could you help me?

The name puts people off. It should not. English has the same thing, and you use it all the time: if I were you, I would go, could you pass that. German just gives it a label.

What it is for

Konjunktiv 2 does four jobs, and all four are about something that is not simply true:

Add a fifth for the past, the regret: Ich hätte das nicht sagen sollen (I should not have said that). That is covered further down.

The easy way: würde plus the infinitive

For almost every verb, Konjunktiv 2 is würde in second position and the infinitive at the end, exactly like the future tense with an umlaut on it:

Ich werde gehen. - I will go.

Ich würde gehen. - I would go.

würde itself is the Konjunktiv 2 of werden, and it conjugates with the ordinary endings:

That table plus any infinitive you know is most of the work. Ich würde das machen, Wir würden gern bleiben, Würdest du mir helfen? All correct, all natural.

The forms that do not use würde

A small group of verbs are so common that German kept their own Konjunktiv 2 forms, and with these you should not use würde. würde sein and würde haben are understood but sound clumsy; a German says wäre and hätte.

Add dürfte, sollte, wollte and möchte and you have the core list for everyday speech. You have already met möchte in the modal verbs: it is the Konjunktiv 2 of mögen, which is why it means would like.

How these forms are built

There is a pattern, and it saves memorising eight separate words. Take the simple past, add an umlaut where the vowel allows one, and make sure it ends in -e:

sollen and wollen have no umlaut to add, so their Konjunktiv 2 is identical to the simple past. Context tells you which is meant. Note how much the umlaut is carrying in the others: hatte is I had, hätte is I would have. Drop the dots and you are back in the plain past.

The same recipe works for strong verbs in written German: kommen gives käme, gehen gives ginge, wissen gives wüsste. You will read these in books. In speech, wüsste and gäbe are the ones you will hear most (Ich wüsste nicht, wie; Das gäbe Ärger), and for the rest würde kommen and würde gehen are what people say.

If sentences

A hypothetical if sentence puts both halves into Konjunktiv 2. This is the part English does differently, because English uses a past tense in the if half and would in the other:

Wenn ich Zeit hätte, würde ich kommen. - If I had time, I would come.

Wenn er reich wäre, würde er ein Haus kaufen. - If he were rich, he would buy a house.

Wenn du mehr schlafen würdest, wärst du nicht so müde. - If you slept more, you would not be so tired.

wenn sends its verb to the end, as it always does (see German subordinate clauses), and the main clause starts with its verb straight after the comma. The order of the halves can swap: Ich würde kommen, wenn ich Zeit hätte.

You can also drop wenn and start with the verb, which is common in writing: Hätte ich Zeit, würde ich kommen. It means exactly the same.

Compare the real condition, which uses the ordinary present: Wenn ich Zeit habe, komme ich means if I have time, I will come, and it is an actual possibility. Switch to hätte and würde and you are saying it is not going to happen.

Being polite

This is where you will use Konjunktiv 2 first, probably on your first day in Germany. Asking directly is fine among friends; to a stranger, the subjunctive softens it:

Ich will across a counter sounds like a demand. Ich hätte gern and Ich möchte are what a German would say, and they cost nothing to learn.

Wishes and advice

A wish is an if sentence with the second half cut off. German marks it with doch and nur, which add the if only feeling English gets from its tone of voice:

Wenn ich doch nur mehr Zeit hätte! - If only I had more time!

Wenn er doch nur hier wäre! - If only he were here!

You can also start with the verb and drop wenn: Hätte ich doch nur mehr Zeit! Same meaning, slightly more emphatic.

Advice runs through sollte, which is the Konjunktiv 2 of sollen and the natural German for should: Du solltest mehr schlafen, Sie sollten einen Arzt rufen. The other classic advice frame puts yourself in the other person's place: An deiner Stelle würde ich das nicht machen (in your place, I would not do that). Both are softer than telling someone what they müssen do, and far more common in real conversation.

The past: hätte or wäre plus a participle

To talk about something that could have happened and did not, use hätte or wäre plus the past participle. The choice between them follows the same rule as the perfect tense: verbs that take sein in the perfect take wäre here.

Wenn ich das gewusst hätte, wäre ich gekommen. - If I had known that, I would have come.

Das hätte ich nicht gemacht. - I would not have done that.

For should have and could have, German does something odd with the modal: it stays in the infinitive and goes last, after the main verb. This is called the double infinitive:

Du hättest früher kommen sollen. - You should have come earlier.

Ich hätte es machen können. - I could have done it.

Not hätte kommen gesollt. The modal refuses to become a participle when another verb is next to it, and that is simply how German does it.

Mistakes English speakers make

Using würde with sein, haben and the modals. Ich würde reich sein and Ich würde das machen können are understood and sound like a learner. Use Ich wäre reich and Ich könnte das machen.

Losing the umlaut. hatte and hätte, konnte and könnte, war and wäre: in each pair the umlaut is the only thing separating a plain past from a hypothetical. Write the dots and say the vowel change.

Putting the if half in the plain past. English says if I had time with an ordinary past. German needs Konjunktiv 2: wenn ich Zeit hätte, not wenn ich Zeit hatte, which means whenever I had time.

Using will to be polite. will is want, and blunt with it. For requests, use möchte or hätte gern.

Building should have with a participle. It is hätte kommen sollen, two infinitives at the end, not a participle of sollen.

What to do next

Learn würde, wäre, hätte and könnte first. Those four cover the overwhelming majority of Konjunktiv 2 you will ever say, and Ich hätte gern and Könnten Sie will earn their keep the day you use them. Then practise if sentences in pairs, real against unreal, until switching habe to hätte feels like a choice about meaning rather than a conjugation exercise.

Konjunktiv 1, the other subjunctive, is mostly for reported speech in the news, and you can safely ignore it for a long time yet. The strong-verb forms like käme and ginge come easier once you know the simple past, which the German irregular verbs article sets out pattern by pattern. The German course reaches Konjunktiv 2 in chapter 10.