Konjunktiv II: Unreal Wishes
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Learn to express unreal wishes and hypothetical conditions with Konjunktiv II. Practise wenn-clauses, würde + infinitive, and verb position.
Explanation
Unreal wishes and conditions
For unreal wishes and conditions, German uses Konjunktiv II to describe situations that do not match reality, are only imagined, or are difficult to realise at present.
Unreal wishes
A wish can be expressed as a statement:
- Ich wäre gern am Meer. — I would like to be by the sea.
- Wir hätten gern mehr Zeit. — We wish we had more time.
- Lea würde gern öfter reisen. — Lea would like to travel more often.
A more emotional wish often starts with wenn and contains doch, nur, or endlich:
- Wenn ich doch mehr Zeit hätte!
- Wenn der Bus nur pünktlich wäre!
- Wenn Tom endlich anrufen würde!
With haben, sein, and many modal verbs, German normally uses their own Konjunktiv II forms: hätte, wäre, könnte. Most other verbs commonly use würde + infinitive.
Unreal conditions
A hypothetical conditional sentence often consists of a wenn-clause and a main clause:
- Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich einen Sprachkurs besuchen.
- Wenn Nora besser kochen könnte, würde sie Freunde einladen.
The wenn-clause gives the imagined condition; the main clause gives its possible result.
Word order
The conjugated verb comes at the end of a wenn-clause:
- Wenn ich mehr Geld hätte, ...
- Wenn er früher kommen würde, ...
When the subordinate clause comes first, the conjugated verb follows it immediately in the main clause:
- Wenn ich frei wäre, würde ich länger schlafen.
The main clause can also come first:
- Ich würde länger schlafen, wenn ich frei wäre.
With würde + infinitive, the infinitive comes at the end of its clause.
Exercises
- Turn the real situation into an unreal wish with wenn and doch, nur, or endlich. (11)
- Match each unreal condition with its logical result. (6)
- Answer with a complete unreal conditional sentence and also state the real limitation. (11)
- Arrange the parts. The verb is final in the wenn-clause; the main clause then begins with its conjugated verb. (11)
B1 · German · Grammar