Subjunctive II: conditional sentences

Subjunctive II, sometimes known as past subjunctive, is mainly used to indicate an

unreal condition or a possibility. It has three forms:

Past subjunctive Pluperfect subjunctive Conditional

Ich htte Ich htte gehabt Ich wrde haben
Ich wre Ich wre gewesen Ich wrde sein
Ich gbe Ich htte gegeben Ich wrde geben

The past subjunctive and conditional are used interchangeably for an unreal
condition or possibility in the present, however, the past subjunctive is used more
commonly with common verbs (wre, htte, gbe, kme, wsste) and the modal
auxiliaries, whilst the conditional is used with other, especially weak, verbs:

Ich gbe. Ich wrde geben.

> I would give. > I would give.

Subjunctive II is used in both the wenn-clause and the main clause in German. For
the present, the wenn-clause commonly contains the past subjunctive (simple) and
the main clause contains the conditional (wrde-form):

Wenn ich es jetzt wsste, wrde ich dir sagen.

> If I knew it now, I would tell you.

1. I would buy that top if I had enough money.

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2. If they had time, they would visit us in London.

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3. If she came to school, she would do better in her exams.

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The pluperfect subjunctive is used for an unreal condition or possibility in the past.
For the past, both the wenn-clause and the main clause use the pluperfect
subjunctive:

Wenn ich es damals gewusst htte, htte ich es dir sagen knnen.
>If I had known it then, I would have been able to tell you.

1. If I hadnt seen it with my own eyes, I wouldnt have believed it.

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2. I would have married you if you had bought me a diamond ring.

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3. If the firemen had not come, the cat would have still been in the tree.

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