Conjugating other verbs in the Konjunktiv II There are other more ways to form the Konjunktiv II in German, and this is where it gets a little more complicated. The second-person conjugation, möchtest, is also a great word to keep handy, because it’s a nice way of asking someone to do something. Modal verbs like sollen and können are great for use in everyday conversational German, and will crop up more often than you think. Let’s take a look at some example sentences with their English translations. Like the future tense, you’ll use the verb werden with an infinitive to express something you “would” do.Īnd in keeping with German word order, the verb usually goes to the end of the sentence. Luckily, it’s not much different than the future tense and the conjugations aren’t overly complicated. We’ll start with the simplest, most common form of Konjunktiv II in German. Using “werden” to form the simple conditional tense Regardless, it’s important to have a working knowledge of the various ways to express the conditional tense in German, simply because you never know when you might need it!Ĭontinue reading to find all the various ways of articulating the conditional tense. Some are more complicated than others, but luckily it seems that the more complex forms are dying out (thank you, Germans!). There are a number of ways you can form the Konjunktiv II in German. How do you form the conditional tense in German? So, how do you form this complicated mood-tense-thing in German?Ĭheck out the various ways you can do this below. What’s more, the conditional can be expressed with a variety of tenses (e.g., “I would have bought…”) which is why it’s called a mood rather than a tense. You can also note the conditional tense through words like “if”, which appears in a lot of hypothetical phrases. “I could be moving to Germany next year.” “If I invited them to the party, I would have to buy more food.” “The event should happen, if everything goes according to plan.” The verbs “would”, “could”, and “should” are prime examples of these triggers. In English, the conditional tense is formed with specific words that act as triggers. It doesn’t really matter what you call it, you just need to know when to use it. The Konjunktiv is technically a subjunctive mood, rather than a tense, but many grammar books and courses will still call it the conditional tense. The conditional tense, also called the Konjunktiv II in German, is used to express anything in this world that’s uncertain: wishes, doubts, fantasies - anything that might, would, should, or could happen in the future. So, without further ado, let’s get started. In this guide, you’ll learn a bit about what the conditional tense looks like in German, when to use it, and how to conjugate it. I mean, you’ve got the various cases, genders, word order… the list of difficult grammar points goes on.īut German isn’t as hard as you think, just as long as you treat its rules with a little respect and patience. But no one said German was going to be a walk in the park. Many German learners will cite the Konjunktiv - as the conditional is known in German - as the trickiest grammar aspect of this language. This quote from famous comedian Dieter Hildebrandt pretty much sums up how difficult it is to master the conditional tense in German. “We Germans have conquered the world, foreign peoples, the North Sea, and nature - but never the subjunctive.”
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