The subjunctive II in German: What it is and how to use it?

Usually you will first encounter the subjunctive I because you’re trying to make a polite request. For example, you may already know that it’s very pushy to say Ich will eine Tasse Kaffee (meaning I want a cup of coffee), and so you’ll ask this way instead:

The subjunctive II is often used to make requests that are already somewhat polite, formed using modal verbs like sollen (meaning shall) or können (meaning to be able to)), sound even more deferential.

For example, compare the pair of requests below. Though the first request is polite, the second sounds even less presumptive:

So if you want to be really polite with your requests as a visitor to Germany, using the Subjunctive II can get you lots more smiles!

If you are not 100% sure about something, subjunctive II will help you express your doubt or uncertainty better.

In German, expressions of doubt often are formed by using an expression of doubt, like zweifeln (meaning to doubt) or nicht denken (meaning to not think), together with a subordinate clause that is introduced by ob (meaning whether) or dass (meaning that) and uses a verb in the subjunctive II.

Let’s look at some examples!

• verb of doubtdasssubjunctive II

  Tim:

  Kommst du morgen mit mir an den See?

  Translation: Are you coming to the lake with me tomorrow?

  Tina:

  Ich denke nicht, dass meine Eltern das erlauben würden.

  Translation: I don’t think that my parents would allow that.
• verb of doubtobsubjunctive II

  Tim:

  Kommst du heute Abend mit mir ins Kino?

  Translation: Are you coming to the movies with me tonight?

  Tina:

  Ob meine Eltern das erlauben würden, ist fraglich.

  Translation: Whether my parents would allow that is questionable.

There are a few main situations where you might use the German subjunctive II to discuss imaginary situations, hopes or dreams. We use the present subjunctive II to imagine a situation in the present, and the past subjunctive II to imagine a situation in the past.

• Remote conditionals (“if…then…”)

  A remote conditional describes the result of an imaginary situation. The situation might be imaginary because…

  • it’s no longer possible (e.g. “If I had bought that hat…”)

  • because you’re just not really expecting it to come true (e.g. “If I were to buy that hat…”)

  When you use a remote conditional, you’re speaking in hypotheticals.

  In German, we use the subjunctive II for both parts of the remote hypothetical: the condition and the result!

  subjunctive II

  Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich ehrenamtlich im Tierheim arbeiten.

  Translation: If I had more time, I would volunteer at the animal shelter.

  I’m imagining a situation. Even though it’s remotely possible that I might have more time, I’m not really planning for that future.

  Hätte es nicht geregnet, hätten wir zu Fuß gehen können.

  Translation: If it had not rained, we could have walked.

  I’m imagining a situation. It is no longer possible that it won’t rain because it already happened.

  Notice that in German, you don’t need to put imaginary conditions into the past tense (e.g. “If I had more time”), just into the subjunctive II. So in the first example above, hätte is in the present subjunctive.

• Expressing wishes or dreams (“if only…”)

  By leaving out the result of a remote conditional, you can create an exclamation that expresses that you wanted something else to happen, much like using “if only…” in English.

  In German, these kinds of exclamations are often accompanied by words like nur / bloß (meaning only) or the flavoring word doch:

  intensifying wordsubjunctive II

  Wenn du mir (doch) bloß beim Lernen geholfen hättest!

  Translation: If only you had helped me study!

  Hätte ich (doch) nur mehr für den Test gelernt!

  Translation: If only I had studied harder for the test!

  Wondering where wenn (meaning if) went? By changing the word order, we’ve made it unnecessary. Check out our post on wishes and conditionals in German to learn more!

• Hypothetical comparisons (“as if…”)

  You’ll also see the subjunctive II used in sentences that compare a real situation to an imagined one — comparisons where you might use “as if…” in English.

  In German, we form hypothetical comparisons like this using (so) als ob/wenn… (meaning as if...) + subjunctive. But be on the lookout!

  • If you’re comparing something to a hypothetical past → use subjunctive II

    subjunctive II

    Meine Schwester tut so, als ob/wenn sie die Weisheit mit Löffeln gefressen hätte.

    Translation: My sister acts as if she knew it all.

    die Weisheit mit Löffeln fressen is an idiomatic expression for alles wissen (meaning to know it all). It literally means “to eat knowledge with spoons.”

  • If you’re comparing something to a hypothetical present → use subjunctive I instead!

    subjunctive I

    Mein Bruder verhält sich so, als ob/wenn er der Beste sei.

    Translation: My brother behaves as if he was / is the best.

• Other imaginary situations

  You can also use the subjunctive II to discuss imaginary situations in other contexts. For example:

  • present subjunctive II

    Tina würde gern Reiten lernen.

    Translation: Tina would like to learn horseback riding.

    She is imagining a present situation.
  • past subjunctive II

    Tina hätte gern in ihrer Kindheit das Reiten gelernt.

    Translation: Tina would have liked to learn horseback riding in her childhood.

    She is imagining a past situation.

We all know that we shouldn’t give unsolicited advice, as a lot of people don’t like that at all. But let’s say a friend asked you for it, you would use subjunctive II to make your suggestions.

You’ll often see subjunctive II instead of subjunctive I. This happens for two main reasons:

1. In the subjunctive I, the ich, wir, and sie/Sie forms look just like the indicative. You’ll often hear the subjunctive II used with these subjects, to help clarify that the subjunctive was intended. Compare:

   • indicative

     Ich schreibe einen Brief.

     Translation: I’m writing a letter.
   • subjunctive I

     Ich sagte, ich schreibe einen Brief.

     Translation: I said I was writing a letter.
   • subjunctive II

     Ich sagte, ich würde einen Brief schreiben.

     Translation: I said I would write a letter.

     Using the subjunctive II makes it clear that you weren't intending to use the indicative here.

2. A reporter wants to imply some level of doubt about whether what the original speaker said was true.

In general, the present tense of subjunctive II in German is formed by adding different endings to the past tense stem of the verb. If the stem has the vowels a, o or u, those vowels will also acquire umlauts in the present subjunctive II, becoming ä, ö and ü.

• Start by building the stem…

  Infinitive	Past tense stem	Add umlauts
  haben Translation: to have	hatt-	hätt-
  können Translation: to be able to, can	konnt-	könnt-
  wissen Translation: to know	wusst-	wüsst-
  gehen Translation: to go	ging-	ging-

• …then add the appropriate present subjunctive II endings

  Subject	Ending	Example
  ich	-e	hätte
  du	-est	hättest
  er/sie/es	-e	hätte
  wir	-en	hätten
  ihr	-et	hättet
  sie	-en	hätten
  Sie	-en	hätten

In German, only a handful of verbs are generally used in the subjunctive II, so it’s a good idea to really practice the subjunctive II of these verbs. The ones you’ll encounter most often are:

…and the modal verbs:

The forms of the first six are illustrated below, and you can see the complete conjugations of the modal verbs in our post on using subjunctive modals in German!

If you want to use another verb in the subjunctive II this is usually accomplished using the formula below:

The past subjunctive II is formed by the present subjunctive II forms of either haben (meaning to have) or sein (meaning to be) + past participle of the verb.

When using the past subjunctive with modal verbs, the structure depends on whether or not there is a third verb in the mix (a “main verb”).

1. If the modal is used on its own, without a “main verb,” combine the subjunctive II of haben (meaning to have) with the past participle of the modal verb.

   subjunctive IIpast participle

   Tina hätte eine Campingreise gewollt, aber Tim hatte keine Lust.

   Translation: Tina would have wanted a camping trip, but Tim was not in the mood.

2. If the modal is used with a main verb, combine the subjunctive II of haben (meaning to have) with the infinitives of both the modal and the main verb (with the modal coming second).

   subjunctive IIinfinitive

   Tim hätte Tina nicht absagen sollen.

   Translation: Tim should have not canceled on Tina.

   This is called a double infinitive construction, and you’ll see them most often with the modals können (meaning to be able to, can), sollen (meaning to be supposed to, shall), and müssen (meaning to have to, must).