Imperfect subjunctive in German - Higher

• The imperfect subjunctive is used to talk about hypothetical or unreal situations, for example:

  • if I had… I would/could/should or if I were… I would/could/should.

• It is used with the subordinating conjunctionwennif.

• It is used alongside the conditional tense (würde + infinitive).

• The most commonly used subjunctive forms are those of habento have and seinto be.

The subjunctive looks like the imperfect tense, but it has an umlaut added to the vowel. The imperfect subjunctive is a specific verb form which makes it easy to learn.

Remember:

As the subjunctive refers to unreal situations, there is an element of doubt so when there is doubt, don’t forget the umlaut.

It is important to know the imperfect subjunctive forms of habento have and seinto be

The imperfect forms of haben are:

It is important to remember that würden + haben = hätten which means would have, but in the imperfect subjunctive it is translated as if I had.

The imperfect forms of sein are:

It is important to remember that würden + sein = wären which means would be, but in the imperfect subjunctive it is translated as if I was/were.

Listen to these sentences and decide whether they are in the present tense, imperfect tense or the imperfect subjunctive.

Wenn, whenever/if is a subordinating conjunction in German which means it subordinates the verb. It changes the word order in a sentence meaning the verb must go to the end of the clause. Subordinating conjunctions are also known as verb shifters.

For example:

• Wenn das Wetter besser wäre, würde ich in die Stadt gehen.

  • If the weather were better, I would go into town.

Note the word order when using wenn in the sentence:

Wenn ich viel Geld hätte, würde ich zum Mond fliegen

• The first sentence is the clause, as it contains the subordinating conjunction. This expresses the first idea in the whole sentence.

• In German word order, the main verb is always the second idea. In this example, the main verb is würde - it is followed by the subject pronoun, and the infinitive comes at the end of the sentence.

• This creates the pattern verb, comma, verb, as shown in the example.