Konjunktiv II (Subjunctive)

The forms of Konjunktiv II

The forms of K.II. are obtained from the Präteritum tense, and the personal endings are identical to those of Konjunktive I.

Weak verbs

	K. II
-e	ich sagte
-est	du sagtest
-e	er sagte
-en	wir sagten
-et	ihr sagtet
-en	sie sagten

As the table shows there are no differences at all between the Präteritum of the weak verbs and the Konjunktiv II.

Strong verbs

	K. II
-e	ich führe
-est	du führest
-e	er führe
-en	wir führen
-et	ihr führet
-en	sie führen

Strong verbs suffer the following changes:

• if possible, their stem receives an Umlaut, and an -e is added to the end, again if possible (although this ending is rarely used in speech)
• there are a few verbs that form this subjunctive irregularly (an example is sterben - starb - stürbe, or helfen - half - hülfe), but most of these are rarely used anymore today.

The use of Konjunktiv II

K.II. is used to express situations which are only imagined, and they haven't happened, or can't happen at all. The speaker only imagines these situations as possible.

The würde form

In the case of all weak verbs, and those strong verbs that don't recieve an Umlaut, with the exception of 1st and 3rd person singular, the forms of Präteritum and Konjunktiv II are identical. To clearly indicate the Konjunktiv, the würde form is used, which is simply the KII form of werden, or a modal verb + the indicative of the verb. This is however not necessary, if the following sentence is using a Konjunktiv.

• Ich habe nicht geglaubt, dass er die Rechnung bezahlen würde.
• Wir gingen ins Theater, wenn mein Freund mitkäme.
• Wir würden ins Theater gehen, wenn uns mein Freund besuchte.
• Ich kaufte mir einen Anzug, wenn mein Vater Geld schicken sollte.

The main use of KII is in unreal conditional clauses, most of which are introduced with the conjunction wenn. In these clauses, the würde form is often used.

Konjunktiv I : forms and usage

The Konjunktiv (you may encounter it as Subjunctive in English), is a verbal mood, which ,just like the indicative mood, can be used to form senteces. In the case of Konjunktiv, the sentences can express the followings:

• the speaker only imagines the described situation
• the realization of the situation would be desirable
• the speaker hasn't directly observed the described situation, but has found out about it (from someone else).

The use of subjunctive in the German language is not limited to certain conjunctions or verbs upon which a Konjunktivsatz would depend, but rather it only expresses the relation of the speaker to the described situation. If the described situation is, in the view of the speaker, possible, uncertain, unreal a Konjunktiv is needed. It is therefore possible (and quite common), to form sentences which mix Konjunktiv forms with indicative forms (maybe at different tenses), as the following examples show:

• Ich habe gelesen, dass der Minister nach Berlin gefahren ist. (I don't doubt this piece of information).
• Ich habe gelesen, dass der Minister nach Berlin gefahren sei. (I can't guarantee that this is true)
• Hans schrieb, dass er morgen kommt. (I'm quite sure of it)
• Hans schrieb, dass er morgen komme. (I recieved his message, and I'm reporting it further)

In some sentences (that express an imaginary situation) (wishes, unreal conditionals) the Konjunktiv must be used. Another one of its uses is the indirect speech.

Forms of Konjunktiv I

1. Weak verbs

These forms can be obtained from the 1st person plural, present tense form of the verb, as the table below shows:

Ending	(wir sagen)
-e	ich sag-e
-e-st	du sag-est
-e	er sag-e
-en	wir sag-en
-et	ihr sag-et
-en	sie sag-en

As you can see, the forms are almost identical to the present tense, with the following exceptions:

• 3rd person singular (all verbs): er sage (konj.) - er sagt (present ind.)
• 2nd person singular - an -e- is added to all verbs at the start of the ending (unlike the present tense, where only some verbs recieve an e) (example: du sagest (konj) - du sagst (pres), but: du antwortest (both konj and pres)).

Strong verbs

Just like in the case of weak, strong verbs recieve the same endings, and can be obtained from 1st person plural present:

Ending	(wir fahren)
-e	ich fahr-e
-e-st	du fahr-est
-e	er fahr-e
-en	wir fahr-en
-et	ihr fahr-et
-en	sie fahr-en

As you can see, the Konjunktiv I is very easy to form (and to remebember). You simply add the correct ending to the stem of the verb, with no exceptions whatsoever.

The use of Konjunktiv I

The first subjunctive form is used to express a wish, whose realization seems possible. You will often see the verb mögen used in this way:

• Es lebe der König!/ Gott segne der König!
• Du mögest in deinen Leben Erfolg haben.

This form of Konjunktiv can even be used to express a request, which is mainly addressed at third person singular or plural(there's no imperative form for this personal form):

• Von dieser Medizin nehme man täglich dreimal drei Tropfen auf Zucker.
• Sprechen wir nicht mehr davon!

Also, K. I. can be used in a subordinate clause to indicate that the speaker does not stand up for the message transmitted:

• Paul ist nicht zum Unterricht gekommen, weil er (wie er sagte) Kopfschmerzen habe.

Another use is in final clauses, especially after damit. The situation on which these clauses depend is usually in the past:

• Der Vater gab seinem Sohn Geld, damit er sich einen Anzug kaufe.

The perfect tense (das Perfekt)

The perfect tense is formed using the present tense of the verbs haben or sein, and the Participle II of the verb you are conjugating.

• Ich habe gestern einen Brief geschrieben.
• Ich bin heute einem Bekannten begegnet.

So the main difficulty of using this verbal tense is determining the correct auxiliary verb The following tips can help:

• Most verbs build the perfect tense using haben. Among these are:
  1. all transitive verbs (verbs that can take a direct object in the accusative case)
     Mein Freund hat mich gestern besucht. - Er hat das Buch gelesen.
  2. all reflexive, irrespective of whether the reflexive pronoun is in accusative, or dative
     Der Mann hat sich nach dem Weg erkundigt.
  3. Many intransitive verbs, especially those that contain the idea of duration of an action or existance:
     Der Mann hat auf der Bank gesessen.
     Wir haben gut geschlafen.
  4. All modal verbs:
     Mein Vater hat ins Büro gehen müssen.
  5. Impersonal verbs:
     Gestern hat es geregnet.
     Es hat gedonnert un geblitzt.
     Exceptions: es geschieht, es gelingt, es passiert, es kommt vor, es bekommt.
• Verbs that use sein:
  1. intransitive verbs, that indicate a change of state:
     Er ist gestern spät eingeschlafen.
     Der Kranke ist heute nacht gestorben.

     To this category also belong verbs that indicate a change of place:

     Wir sind nach Deutschland gefahren.
  2. The verbs sein, bleiben, werden.

• Verbs that build the perfect with either haben or sein:

  Some verbs can indicate both a process and an action. In the first case, they are transitive, so they form the perfect with haben, while in the second case they form it with sein. A few examples are presented below:

  brechen
  Er bricht sein Wort.	Er hat sein Wort gebrochen.
  Das Eis bricht.	Das Eis ist gebrochen.
  heilen
  Der Arzt heilt die Wunde.	Der Arzt hat die Wunde geheilt.
  Die Wunde heilt gut.	Die Wunde ist gut geheilt.
  trocknen
  Ich trockne die Wäsche am Ofen.	Ich habe die Wäsche am Ofen getrocknet.
  Die Wäsche trocknet in der Sonne.	Die Wäsche ist in der Sonne getrocknet.

Another useful observation is that the modal verbs form the perfect tense with the infinitive instead of the participle II. The same rule applies to lassen as well.

Er hat uns leider wieder verlassen müssen.

Ich habe mir einen Anzug machen lassen.

However, if the modal verbs are used on their own (they are not accompanied by another verb), the perfect is formed with the participle:

Ich habe das nicht gekonnt.

Er hat das Essen nicht gemocht.

Ich habe mein Buch zu Hause gelassen.

The imperative

The imperative mood is one of the three verbal moods of the German language (the others being Indicative and Konjunktiv). It is used mainly to express commands, pieces of advice or invitations.

Weak verbs

The stem of the verb receives the following endings:

du:	-/-e	sag! sage!	rechne!
ihr:	-t/-et	sagt!	rechnet!
Sie:	-en Sie	sagen Sie!	rechnen Sie!

The 2nd person singular (du) imperative is formed from the Infinitive, by taking away the -n or -en of the ending. These forms are used without the pronoun du:

• kaufe(n): Kaufe mir ein Buch!
• rede(n): Rede nicht so laut!

---

Many verbs (all verbs in the case of the colloquial language), the whole -en ending can be removed:

• kauf(en): Kauf mir ein Buch!
• rauch(en): Rauch nicht so viel!
• mach(en): Mach deine Aufgaben!

An exception to the rule above consists of all the verbs whose stem ends in -d, -t, -ig, or m/n preceded by a consonant(not l or r), can't remove the e.

• antworte(n): Antworte mir sofort!
• bade(n): Bade nicht so heiß!
• entschuldige(n): Entschuldige bitte!

---

The second person plural form of the imperative corresponds to the present form, without the ihr:

• hören: Hört auf eure Eltern!
• öffnen: Öffnet die Tür!

The polite second-person form corresponds to the present form (has both plural and singular meaning). The only change is that the personal pronoun Sie stays after the verbs:

• kaufen: Kaufen Sie das Buch!
• öffnen: Öffnen Sie bitte die Tür!

Weak verbs

The imperative of strong verbs has the following forms:

du:	-/-e	komm! komme!	nimm!	biete!
ihr:	-t/-et	kommt!	nehmt!	bietet!
Sie:	-en Sie	kommen Sie!	nehmen Sie!	bieten Sie!

Strong verbs are conjugated almost exactly like weak verbs, except the case in which a verb changes its stem vowel to i in the second-person present form(nimmst, hilfst). In this case, the ending of the conjugation is lost.

Präteritum forms

The Präteritum can be associated with the Past Simple tense of the English language. However there are some differences. The proper usage of verbal tenses in the German language will be thoroughly analyzed in a later article.

Weak verbs

The stem receives the following endings:

-te : ich sagte	-ten : wir sagten
-test : du sagtest	-tet : ihr sagtet
-te : er/sie/es sagte	-ten : Sie/sie sagten

An observation should be made here about the case in which the stem of the verb ends in -t, -d, or in -m, -n when another consonant (except r or l) precedes this last letter. In this case an -e- is insert, as the example below illustrates.

ich antwort-e-te, du bad-e-test, er atm-e-te, wir rechn-e-te etc.

Strong verbs

Strong verb change their stem at this tense(Präteritum) and receive the following endings:

	kommen	fahren	gehen
-	ich kam	ich fuhr	ich ging
-st	du kamst	du fuhrst	du gingst
-	er kam	er fuhr	er ging
-en	wir kamen	wir fuhren	wir gingen
-t	ihr kamt	ihr fuhrt	ihr gingt
-en	sie kamen	sie fuhren	sie gingen

There are certain patterns in the vowel changes which will be presented in a later article, however, the best way to learn them is by reading and actually using the language, by gaining as much exposure to it as possible.

The present tense

Weak verbs

The stem of the verb receives the following endings:

-e : ich sage	-en: wir sagen
-st : du sagst	-t: ihr sagt
-t : er/sie/es sagt	-en: sie/Sie sagen

A few helpful rules about special cases:

1.If the stem of the verb ends in -t or -d, or if it ends in -n or -m and a consonant (except -r, -l) lies right before this ending, an -e- is added to the second and third person singular, and second person plural:

-e	ich bade	ich atme	ich rechne
-est	du badest	du atmest	du rechnest
-et	er badet	er atmet	er rechnet
-en	wir baden	wir atmen	wir rechnen
-et	ihr badet	ihr atmet	ihr rechnet
-en	sie baden	sie atmen	sie rechnen

However: er erbarmt sich, er lernt, er qualmt, er filmt.

2.If the stem of the verb ends in -s/-ß/-x/-z, then the second person singular ending loses its 's':

• du grüßt
• du mixt
• du kratzt

3.If the infinitive of the verb ends in -eln, the -e- is omitted from the stem in the case of the first person singular form (this does not happen with -ern endings):

• klingeln - ich klingle (du klingelst etc)

4. If the infinitive ends in -eln or -ern, the endings of first and third person plural are -n (are always identical to the infinitive).(wir klingeln, sie ändern etc).

Strong verbs:

The strong verb conjugation follows the same rules as the weak verb conjugation, however there are a few more things to consider.

Strong verbs with the vowels -e-, -a-, -au-, -o- in their stem change those into -i-(ie), -ä-, -äu- and -ö- respectively.

nehmen	fahren	laufen	stoßen
ich nehme	ich fahre	ich laufe	ich stoße
du nimmst	du fährst	du läufst	du stößt
er nimmt	er fährt	er läuft	er stößt
wir nehmen	wir fahren	wir laufen	wir stoßen
ihr nehmt	ihr fahrt	ihr lauft	ihr stoßt
sie nehmen	sie fahren	sie laufen	sie stoßen

Conjugations of some of the irregular verbs can be found in later articles as well as on Wiktionary..

German verbs

Verbs are words which designate actions (arbeiten), processes (regnen, fallen) and existence (liegen, blühen). They make up a separate word class because of this characteristic.

Depending of their function, verbs may be found in different forms : Personalform, Konjunktivform, Infinitiv, Partizip, or in different verbal tenses. In a sentence, the verbs usually have the role of the predicate, however they can take any other role (direct object, subject, indirect object, attributes).

Die Blumen blühen.

Diese Ausführungen sind überzeugend.

Leben heißt kämpfen.

Er lernt schwimmen.

Er blieb erschrocken stehen.

Das war eine gelungene Veranstaltung.

The already big set of verbs is complemented with new words formed with different methods of word formation (derivation with prefixes, suffixes, compounding etc.). Additionally, many words from different word classes can be used as verbs (a process called conversion)(examples: frühstücken, landen, übernachten, langweilen).

The forms of verbs

When considering the conjugation of a verb we have to differentiate between two groups of verbs: weak verbs and strong verbs.

• the stem of a weak verb does not change: sagen - er sagt , er sagte, gesagt
• while strong verbs do change their stem: nehmen - er nimmt, er nahm, genommen

Overview of the verb endings

Pronoun	Present tense	Präteritum (past simple)		Konjunktiv I and II
	weak and strong verbs	weak	strong	weak and strong verbs
ich	-e	-t-e- -	-	-e
du	-(e)st	-t-e-st	-(e)st	-est
er/sie/es	-(e)t	-t-e	-	-e
wir	-en	-t-e-n	-en	-en
ihr	-(e)t	-t-e-t	-(e)t	-et
sie/Sie	-en	-t-e-n	-en	-en

Two types of verb forms

We can further divide verbs forms into : simple (present, past simple tenses, konjunktiv I, II present tense) and compound forms (zusammengesetzte Verbformen) (verb forms (the passive, Perfekt, Plusquamperfekte etc) which require certain auxiliary verbs in their formation.

Compound words (Zusammensetzung)

Compound words are formed by joining two or more self-standing words into a single one. Different parts of speech can be used.

Parts of speech	Compound word
Noun + Noun	Gartenhaus
Verb + Noun	Reithalle
Adjective + Noun	Hochhaus
Prepostion + Noun	Aufstand
Verb + Adjective	treffsicher
Noun + Adjective	steinreich
Preposition + Adjective	überdeutlich
Adjective + Verb	hellsehen
Noun + Verb	teilnehmen
Preposition + Verb	unterschlagen

As you can see from the table nouns are very common in these combinations.

Compound words from verbs + other words
If the verb is in the first place in a compound word, the -en / -n ending of the infinitive is omitted. Only the stem of the verb is used:
treffen + sicher -> treffsicher
gehen + Weg -> Gehweg

Linking elements

Sometimes, words are joint together using a linking element between them. Their role is the make the pronunciation easier. However, there isn't a formal rule establishes when they are used.
One particular situation in which linking elements are used is when the first word of the compound is a noun. Most often 's' is used, however, you can also encounter 'e', 'es', 'en', 'ens', 'n', 'er' etc.
Examples:
Arbeitszimmer, gebrachsfertig, Zahlungsziel, Schmerzensgeld

Primary words, determiners

When compounding words, we differentiate between the determiner and the primary word:
Wasser (determiner) + Glas (primary word) -> Wasserglas
The basic word always determines the part of speech of the compound, while the determiner gives more specific information about the word.

The primary word

The primary word is always the last component of a compound (the rightmost part) and it determines all the grammatical features of the word, including the part of speech. When the primary word is a noun, its gender is also the gender of the compound.

Determiner(s) + primary word	Compound word (Part of speech)
reiten + Halle (Verb stem + noun)	Reitenhalle (Noun)
auf + Stand (preposition + noun)	Aufstand (Noun)
Teil + nehmen (noun + verb)	teilnehmen (verb)

The determiner can describe:

• a characteristic : Gehweg (a path on which people walk)
• a comparison: taghell (lit as much as a day)
• a purpose, characteristic : Schreibtisch (a table on which people write)
• a reason : Gasexplosion

Keep in mind that compounds can be formed with more than one determiner, and they can also accept prefixes and suffixes.

Word formation - the basics

Word formation is the action of creating new words using existing ones in the language, by means of a number of techniques:

Compounding (Zusammensetzung)

By combining two or more self-standing words, the result is a new word, a compound. It is possible to combine different parts of speech together, as the examples show:

Noun + noun	Verb + noun	Adjective + verb
Garten-haus	Reit-halle	hell-sehen

Derivation (Ableitung)

The creation of new words by adding suffixes and prefixes to existing words, and thus giving them new meanings, is called derivation.
Prefixes: be, emp, ent, er, ge, miss, un, ur, ver, zer ...
Suffixes: -bar, -haft, -ig, -isch, -lich, -los, -chen, -er, -heit, -keit, -ung ...

Conversion

A word can be used as another part of speech without any changes in form:
ernst(Adjective) -> Ernst(noun)
essen(Verb) -> Essen(noun)

Abbreviation (Kürzung)

New words can also be formed by shortening other words. Another example:

Base forms	Hof, Schuld
New words by compounding with different stems:	Schulhof, Schuldfrage
New words by adding a prefix	Vorhof, Unschuld
New words by adding a suffix	höflich, schuldig

New words can't be formed by inflection

You can obtain different forms of a word by inflecting it at different grammatical categories, however this variation does not change the meaning of the word. You won't find them in a dictionary!

Why study german?

Before we actually delve into the language, we will present some reasons that make the knowledge of German a very important skill to have, in case you're still undecided about whether to invest a lot of time in it or not.

1. Spoken by almost 100 million Europeans as a first language, the German language is one of the major languages of the world. Which means that by learning it you get the ability to communicate with people from countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Lichtenstein etc.
2. You will be able to read original literary masterpieces from authors such as Goethe and Schiller. More than 60.000 books are published every year in German, making it the third language in the world in this respect. Not all of the cultural information can be retained through translation. Another fact to keep in mind is that most composers where German speakers.
3. You widen your job opportunities, especially if you live in Europe. On top of that, Germany is an economic powerhouse of the European Union, meaning you are likely to encounter opportunities to speak German if you work in a big company.
4. If you are an European Union citizen you can study at universities in Germany or Austria, with no tuition fees.
5. While English has overtaken German as the language with the most scientific papers published, knowing it is still a useful asset. 
6. If you've got no other reason, you should know that learning another language is a process that causes a big development of the brain. 

An introduction

You have probably stumbled upon this site with the intention of improving your German. This post has the intention of setting up a plan for you to follow.

Firstly, a very significant requirement for learning a new language is motivation. Depending on how motivated you are, you may learn the language easier, faster, or not learn it at all. You need to check your reasons for starting this journey.

How do you actually learn a new language

Sure, there's more than one way to skin a cat, but what approach would be the easiest? It depends on your current German skills as well as on how you're used to learn, and what gives you more enjoyment during the process.

I suggest the following : start with a strong grammar knowledge, and then build on it. Grammar is the heart of a language. Sure, you need some vocabulary in order to actually learn grammar, but you can obtain it along the way.

Once you understand how German works, you can start building vocabulary mainly by reading, or listening to audiobooks, by exposing yourself to the language. What grammar gives you is the confidence needed to actually use the language.

Obviously, this site is a work in progress, it aims to be in a continuous development, as you can never completely saturate a topic, but you may require additional resources in different areas, such as pronunciation (mainly audiobooks and accompanying text) etc.

You will also need a dictionary with you, and I would also recommend a notebook in which to write down all the freshly learned words for a later review.

Finally, some people have been known to learn Chinese in a few months, so there's nothing stopping you from learning German that quickly. The only thing you need is your motivation.