Konjunktiv II: the full meaning system

Konjunktiv II is a grammatical mood used to mark a situation as unreal, hypothetical, or contrary to fact. It covers four main uses: unreal present conditions (Wenn ich Zeit hätte, würde ich kommen), unreal wishes (Wenn ich das doch wüsste!), unreal comparisons introduced by als ob or als, and verb-first conditionals in which the wenn-clause is replaced by subject-verb inversion (Hätte ich Zeit, würde ich kommen). In every case the mood signals that the speaker does not present the content as a real, current fact.

• Unreal present conditions. Use Konjunktiv II in both the wenn-clause and the main clause when the condition is contrary to present reality. The wenn-clause typically takes a synthetic form; the main clause typically takes würde + infinitive or a synthetic form.

• Unreal wishes. A wenn-clause standing alone (often with the particle doch or nur) expresses a wish the speaker knows is not currently fulfilled: Wenn ich das doch wüsste!

• Unreal comparisons with als ob / als. After als ob (verb-final) or als (verb-second), Konjunktiv II signals that the comparison is not real: Er tut so, als ob er nichts wüsste.

• Verb-first (wenn-less) conditionals. The wenn-clause can be replaced by moving the finite verb to first position. The main clause must still begin with the conjugated verb (after a comma): Hätte ich Zeit, würde ich kommen.

• Unreal past conditions. For situations contrary to past fact, use Konjunktiv II of haben or sein + past participle: Hätte ich das gewusst, wäre ich zu Hause geblieben.

Konjunktiv II has two competing strategies: synthetic forms (a single inflected word) and würde + infinitive (an analytic construction). Synthetic forms are built from the simple past (Präteritum) stem, with an umlaut added where possible and the endings -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en.

Synthetic forms — key verbs

Full paradigm — hätte (haben)

When to prefer würde + infinitive. For most regular (weak) verbs, the synthetic Konjunktiv II form is identical to the Präteritum indicative (e.g. kaufte = both indicative past and Konjunktiv II). In those cases, würde + infinitive is used in the main clause to avoid ambiguity. In the wenn-clause, however, the synthetic form of modal verbs, sein, and haben is always preferred over würde.

Unreal past: Konjunktiv II perfect. Combine Konjunktiv II of haben or sein with the past participle of the main verb: ich hätte gekauft, ich wäre gegangen.

• Mixing indicative and Konjunktiv II across clauses. Both the condition and the result must be in Konjunktiv II. Writing Wenn ich Zeit habe, würde ich kommen is inconsistent: habe is indicative present and signals a real condition, which contradicts the unreal würde in the main clause. Use Wenn ich Zeit hätte, würde ich kommen throughout.

• Using würde + infinitive inside the wenn-clause. In careful written German, the wenn-clause takes the synthetic Konjunktiv II form, not würde. *Wenn ich Zeit haben würde is widely avoided in writing; the standard form is wenn ich Zeit hätte. Reserve würde for the main clause or for weak verbs where the synthetic form is ambiguous.

• Forgetting verb-second order after a fronted conditional clause. When the conditional clause (with or without wenn) comes first, the main clause must invert: the finite verb comes directly after the comma, before the subject. *Hätte ich Zeit, ich würde kommen is wrong. The correct form is Hätte ich Zeit, würde ich kommen.

• Indicative after als ob. In careful usage, als ob requires Konjunktiv II to signal that the comparison is unreal. Using the indicative — *als ob er nichts weiß — is considered non-standard in formal writing. The correct form is als ob er nichts wüsste.