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Lesson 61 of 69 · B1, Unit 3: Advanced grammar

Would, could: Konjunktiv II

Konjunktiv II is the German 'would' mood. For most verbs it's simply würde + infinitive: Ich würde gern reisen (I would like to travel). But a handful of very common verbs have their own short forms that are used instead: wäre (would be), hätte (would have), könnte (could), müsste (would have to), sollte (should).

You'll use it for three things: polite requests (Könnten Sie mir helfen?), wishes (Ich hätte gern mehr Zeit), and hypotheticals (Wenn ich reich wäre, würde ich ...).

By the end you can:

  • make polite requests with könnten, würden, and hätten
  • express wishes with wenn ... nur and ich wünschte
  • describe unreal situations with wenn ... würde / wäre / hätte

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