{"id":93099,"date":"2023-12-08T05:45:46","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T10:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/german-conditional-tense\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T10:41:43","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T14:41:43","slug":"german-conditional-tense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/german\/german-conditional-tense\/","title":{"rendered":"German Conditional Tense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Technically, the German conditional tense is a subjunctive mood<\/em><\/a>, not tense.<\/p>\n

That means it refers to wishes or unreal situations, in contrast to the indicative mood, which covers statements of fact\u2014e.g., Ich bin eine Frau<\/em> or “I am a woman.”<\/p>\n

Both English and German use the subjunctive in similar ways, but the German version is a teeny bit more confusing than its English counterpart.<\/p>\n

For starters, the German name for “subjunctive” is konjunktiv<\/em>, not subjunktiv<\/em> as you might expect. There are also two konjunktiv<\/em> forms, creatively named\u00a0Konjunktiv I<\/em> and Konjunktiv II<\/em>, though we’re only going to worry about\u00a0Konjunktiv II<\/em> in this post.<\/p>\n

That said, the conditional in German is one of the coolest, most flexible and most important grammar patterns you’ll ever learn.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What Is the German Conditional Tense?<\/h2>\n

The German conditional tense (or Konjunktiv II<\/em>) is important if you want to talk about hypothetical situations or things that could possibly happen in the future. You can usually build it in two ways: (1) figuring out the preterit stem, adding umlauts<\/a> for strong verbs<\/a> and then putting the appropriate conjugation<\/a> at the end, or (2) leaving the verb completely alone and using a form of w\u00fcrden<\/em><\/strong> (would) for support instead.<\/p>\n

Here’s how Method 1 would work in practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Pronoun<\/th> finden <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(to find): fand-<\/em><\/th>		 sein <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(to be):\u00a0war-<\/em><\/th>		 haben <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(to have):\u00a0hatt-<\/em><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
ich <\/a>\n <\/em> (I)<\/td> f\u00e4nde <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> w\u00e4re <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> h\u00e4tte <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
du <\/a>\n <\/em> (you - singular)<\/td> f\u00e4ndest <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> w\u00e4rest <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n w\u00e4rst <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>		 h\u00e4ttest <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
er <\/a>\n <\/em> (he)<\/td> f\u00e4nde <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> w\u00e4re <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> h\u00e4tte <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wir <\/a>\n <\/em> (we)
\n sie <\/a>\n <\/em> (they)<\/td>		 f\u00e4nden <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> w\u00e4ren <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> h\u00e4tten <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr <\/a>\n <\/em> (you - plural)<\/td> f\u00e4ndet <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td> w\u00e4ret <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n w\u00e4rt <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>		 h\u00e4ttet <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

This might seem a bit overwhelming, but there’s good news: This form is dying out for most verbs anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, let’s get to the much simpler Method 2:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
denken <\/a>\n <\/em> (to think)<\/th> sagen <\/a>\n <\/em> (to say)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
ich\u00a0w\u00fcrde<\/strong> denken <\/a>\n <\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0
\n(I would think)
\n er\u00a0w\u00fcrde<\/strong>\u00a0denken <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(He would think)<\/td>		 ich\u00a0w\u00fcrde<\/strong> sagen <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(I would say)
\n er w\u00fcrde<\/strong> sagen <\/a>\n <\/em>\u00a0
\n(He would say)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
du w\u00fcrdest<\/strong>\u00a0denken <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(You would think)<\/td>		 du w\u00fcrdest<\/strong> sagen <\/a>\n <\/em>\u00a0
\n(You would say)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wir\u00a0w\u00fcrden<\/strong>\u00a0denken <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(We would think)
\n sie\u00a0w\u00fcrden<\/strong>\u00a0denken <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(They would think)<\/td>		 wir w\u00fcrden<\/strong> sagen <\/a>\n \u00a0<\/em>
\n(We would say)
\n sie w\u00fcrden<\/strong> sagen <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(They would say)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr\u00a0w\u00fcrdet<\/strong>\u00a0denken <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(You would think)<\/td>		 ihr w\u00fcrdet<\/strong> sagen <\/a>\n <\/em>
\n(You would say)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Looking at it closely, you can see it’s just like English in its structure. No crazy new umlauts or cross-checking preterits required. As long as you can remember the forms of w\u00fcrden<\/em>, then you already know the Konjunktiv II<\/em> form of literally every German verb<\/strong>, because you just slap it on there.<\/p>\n

If you want to see more examples and practice Konjunktiv II<\/em> further, a language learning program like FluentU<\/a> can be beneficial.<\/p>\n

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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