German Subjunctive II

The usage and formation of the subjunctive II

The subjuncitve II is mostly used to express wishes that are (currently) not possible. Additionally you can use the Subjunctive to make a request more polite.

• "Ich wünschte ich hätte mehr Geld" (I wish I had more money) - Expressing a wish
• "Könntest du mir bitte die Butter reichen?" (Could you please pass me the butter?) - Making a polite request

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1) How to form the German present Subjunctive II

A good way to memorize how to form the subjunctive II is to go through the simple-past-form and add the correct ending. For example

Infinitive: gehen (to walk) → Simple past: Er ging (he walked) → Subjunctive II: Er ginge (He would walk)

The Würde-form of the German Subjunctive II

For some weak and mixed verbs the Subjunctive II doesn't differ from the normal simple past form. For these cases there is the "Würde"-Variation of the Subjunctive II. You build this form by just conjugating the word würde (would) to the correct person and adding the verb in its infinitive form. A few examples

2) How to form the German past Subjunctive II

You can also use the subjunctive II in the past tense. For this you have to conjugate the auxiliary word "sein / haben" and combine them with the participle 2 of the verb. A few examples

Now, that you have learned about the subjunctive II you can test your knowledge in the following exercise!