A Foundation Course in Reading German, 2017a

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12/8/2017
roots are the verbs’ simple-past forms (which is a similarity you’ll need to watch out
for):
PERSON SINGULAR PLURAL
1ST ich hätte / wäre wir hätten / wären
2ND du hättest / wärest ihr hättet / wäret
3RD er/sie/es hätte / wäre sie/Sie hätten / wären
For these two very common verbs you can also see that the easily recognizable
differences from the simple-past verb forms (e.g., hatte / war) are: 1) the umlaut
and 2) – in some cases – the signature additional syllable (spelled with –e-) that is
shared by subjunctive I and II. For other irregular verbs, consult the irregular-verb
chart in your dictionary to check whether a particular verb form you see is simplepast
indicative or present-tense subjunctive II.
For regular verbs and any irregular verbs that have no such visible distinction, you
will need to consider context, such as the Wenn …, dann … construct, to make that
reading decision.
Examples demonstrating both regular and irregular verbs:
Wenn er viel Geld hätte, (so) reiste er nach Deutschland.
If he had a lot of money, he would travel to Germany.
Wenn sie reich wäre, (so) kaufte sie ein neues Haus.
If she were rich, she would buy a new house.
Wenn ihre Eltern kämen, (dann) gingen sie ins Restaurant.
If their parents came, they would go to a restaurant.
Here’s a time-saving tip to help you recognize subjunctive II for some common
irregular verbs whose vowels do not take an umlaut to signal subjunctive II mood:
Verbs whose past-tense, singular, 1st- and 3rd-person forms do not end with an –e,
such as gehen (ging), bleiben (blieb), etc., do get an –e ending in their subjunctive
II form. The top example here is in indicative past tense, and the lower one is in
subjunctive II present tense:
Ging er ….? Ich blieb….
Did he go …? I stayed ….