Konjunktiv II in the past: unreal conditions and regrets
With hätte or wäre + Partizip II you talk about what would have happened, what you should have done and what almost went wrong: the past that never was.
Konjunktiv II · Upper intermediate · 25 min · 40 exercises · Goethe B2, AP German, College
You already know the Konjunktiv II for the present: Wenn ich Zeit hätte, würde ich kommen (If I had time, I would come). Now we move to the past: If I had had time, I would have come. This is the form for unreal conditions, regrets, criticism and missed chances. The good news: German has only one form here, and it is the same in both halves of the sentence.
How to form it: hätte / wäre + Partizip II
Take the Konjunktiv II of haben or sein and add the Partizip II: ich hätte gemacht (I would have done), ich wäre gekommen (I would have come). Haben or sein is chosen exactly as in the Perfekt. There is only one past form in the Konjunktiv II: it covers everything that the indicative expresses with the Präteritum, the Perfekt and the Plusquamperfekt. Do not build it with würde: würde gemacht haben is possible on paper, but nobody uses it.
Konjunktiv II in the past
| Person | machen (haben) | kommen (sein) | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | hätte gemacht | wäre gekommen | I would have done / come |
| du | hättest gemacht | wärst gekommen | you would have done / come |
| er / sie / es | hätte gemacht | wäre gekommen | he, she, it would have done / come |
| wir | hätten gemacht | wären gekommen | we would have done / come |
| ihr | hättet gemacht | wärt gekommen | you (all) would have done / come |
| sie / Sie | hätten gemacht | wären gekommen | they, you (formal) would have done / come |
Unreal conditions in the past
English uses two different forms: If I had known (past perfect), I would have come (would have). German uses the same form in both clauses: Wenn ich das gewusst hätte, wäre ich gekommen. In the wenn clause the auxiliary stands at the end; the main clause then begins with its auxiliary, so hätte and wäre often meet at the comma. You can also drop wenn and put the verb first, as in the English Had I known: Hätte ich das gewusst, wäre ich gekommen. The main clause may start with dann or so: Hätte ich das gewusst, dann wäre ich gekommen.
Unreal conditions
- Wenn ich das gewusst hätte, wäre ich gekommen.If I had known that, I would have come.same form in both clauses
- Wenn der Zug pünktlich gewesen wäre, hätten wir den Anschluss nicht verpasst.If the train had been on time, we would not have missed the connection.
- Hätte die Firma früher reagiert, hätte sie weniger Kunden verloren.Had the company reacted earlier, it would have lost fewer customers.no wenn, verb first
- Wenn es nicht geregnet hätte, wären wir zu Fuß gegangen.If it had not rained, we would have walked.
- Ohne deine Hilfe hätte ich die Prüfung nicht bestanden.Without your help I would not have passed the exam.the condition can hide in a phrase with ohne or mit
Regrets, and things that almost happened
A regret is a wenn clause without a main clause, or a verb-first sentence, with doch, nur or bloß and an exclamation mark: Hätte ich doch mehr gelernt! Wenn ich nur früher angefangen hätte! (If only I had started earlier!). With beinahe or fast (almost), the Konjunktiv II in the past shows that something nearly happened but did not: Ich hätte fast den Termin vergessen (I almost forgot the appointment, but I did not). English uses a plain past here; German prefers the Konjunktiv.
With modal verbs: the double infinitive
For could have, should have, would have had to, German uses hätte + infinitive of the main verb + infinitive of the modal: Du hättest mich anrufen sollen (You should have called me). The modal is not a participle here, and the auxiliary is always hätte, even if the main verb takes sein: Er hätte kommen können. In a subordinate clause this double infinitive must stay at the very end, so hätte moves in front of it: Ich weiß, dass er hätte kommen können.
Modal verbs in the Konjunktiv II past
| Form | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| hätte ... machen können | could have done (it was possible, but did not happen) | Wir hätten das Projekt früher abschließen können. |
| hätte ... machen sollen | should have done (regret, criticism) | Ich hätte die Anleitung genauer lesen sollen. |
| hätte ... nicht machen sollen | should not have done | Du hättest die Datei nicht löschen sollen. |
| hätte ... machen müssen | would have had to do, ought to have done | Die Firma hätte die Kunden informieren müssen. |
| hätte ... machen dürfen | would have been allowed to do | Das hätte nicht passieren dürfen. |
| dass ... hätte machen können | subordinate clause: hätte before both infinitives | Schade, dass du nicht hättest mitkommen können. |
Regrets, near misses and modal verbs
- Hätte ich doch mehr gelernt!If only I had studied more!regret: verb first + doch
- Wenn ich nur früher angefangen hätte!If only I had started earlier!
- Ich hätte beinahe meinen Laptop im Zug vergessen.I almost left my laptop on the train.it did not happen
- Du hättest mich anrufen sollen.You should have called me.
- Sie hätte in Zürich studieren können, aber sie wollte in Graz bleiben.She could have studied in Zurich, but she wanted to stay in Graz.
- Ich bin sicher, dass man den Fehler hätte vermeiden können.I am sure that the mistake could have been avoided.hätte stands before the double infinitive
Conditions can be mixed. If the condition lies in the past but the result is felt now, use the past form in the wenn clause and the present Konjunktiv II in the main clause: Wenn ich damals Informatik studiert hätte, hätte ich heute einen besseren Job (If I had studied computer science back then, I would have a better job today). Words like damals and heute or jetzt show you which half is which.
Four typical English-speaker mistakes. (1) Translating would have word for word: not würde haben gemacht, but hätte gemacht. (2) Using the indicative in the wenn clause: not Wenn ich das gewusst hatte, but gewusst hätte; the two dots change the meaning. (3) Using hätte with a sein verb: not hätte gekommen, but wäre gekommen. (4) Building could have done as könnte haben gemacht: the correct form is hätte machen können, and never hätte machen gekonnt.
The exercises of this lesson
40 corrected exercises in three sessions (discovery, practice, challenge): multiple choice (4), fill in the gap (10), conjugation (2), find the mistake (5), word order (1), rewrite (5), translation (6), gap text (3), matching (2), sorting (2). Every answer is corrected immediately, with the rule that applies.