Konjunktiv II: Unreal Wishes
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