Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Second Edition

Es wäre schön, wenn wir morgen zusammen fahren könnten.

It would be nice if we could travel together tomorrow.

Ich hätte morgen mehr Zeit, mit dir zu essen.

I would have more time tomorrow to eat with you.

Wenn sie Millionärin wäre, würde sie sicher eine Weltreise

machen.

If she were a millionaire she would certainly go on a trip around the

world.

 For making hypotheses see 89.4 (p. 324).

(b) Subjunctive II is also used to soften the directness of a question or a suggestion

out of politeness:

 For this use see 91.1–4 (pp. 328–32); for attracting the attention of a person who is busy,

see 90.2 (p. 325).

Ich hätte eine Frage...

I’d like to ask a question if I may...

Ich möchte noch ein Stück Kuchen.

I would like another piece of cake.

39.3 Formation of Subjunctive II

(a) The present tense of the second subjunctive is formed from the simple past by

adding -e to the simple past ich/er/sie/es/man form. Strong and irregular verbs also

add an umlaut where possible:

 See 33.4b (p. 61), 33.5b (p. 62) and 33.6–7 (pp. 63–6).

Examples of strong verbs are:

The second subjunctive forms of most weak verbs are indistinguishable from the

normal past tense forms:

One mixed verb, however, can add an umlaut:

Infinitive 3 rd person sg. past tense 3 rd person sg. present Subjunctive II

sein war ‘was’ wäre ‘would be’

haben hatte ‘had’ hätte ‘would have’

gehen ging ‘went’ ginge ‘would go’

geben gab ‘gave’ gäbe ‘would give’

sehen sah ‘saw’ sähe ‘would see’

Infinitive 3 rd person sg. simple past indicative and Subjunctive I

machen machte ‘did/would do’

arbeiten arbeitete ‘worked/would work’

üben übte ‘practised/would practise’

reisen reiste ‘travelled/would travel’

brauchen bräuchte ‘would need’

39

VERBS