r3o Venss o wenn (meaning if,whenever)
Venas r3r
Wenn du kim(e)st (subjunctive), wire (subjunctive) ich froh. OR
Wenn du kim(e)st, wiirde ich froh
@
sein.
I
lZ >
The three main forms of the sutrjunctive are the present subiunctive, the i m perfect subj u nctive and the pl uperfect su bi u nctive,
D
The presentsubjunctive ofweak, strong and mixed verbs has the same endings:
would be happy if you came.
trtotethatthe main clause can either have a subjunctiveform orthe
Forming the present subiunctive
conditional tense.
Pronoun ich
-e
OR
du
-est
Wenn es mir nicht qefiele, bezahlte (subjunctive) ich es nicht.
lf I wasn't happy with it, lwouldn't pavfor it.
rtp The imperfect forms of bezahlen, and of all weak verbs, are exactly the same as the im perfect su bj u nctive forms, so it's better to use a conditional tense to avoid confusion.
er/sie/es
-e
wtr
-en
ihr
-et
sie,/5ie
-en
o hofen (weakverb, meaning tofetch) ich hole du holest
o
wenn ... nur (mean ing i[only), selbst wenn (mean ing even if or even though) and wie (meaning how) work in the same way as wenn.This means that the
o
wenn ... nur Wenn wir nur erfolgreich wiren!
o
selbstwenn Selbst wenn er etwas wi.isste, er nichts
sagen.
o
du
lf only we were successful!
wiirde
it, wouldn't sayanythlng.
Even if he knew about he
I
fetch
you fetch
fahren (strong verb, meaning to drive, to go) ich fahrg
normal word order is chanqed and the verb comes at the end of the clause.
a
Present Subjunctive: Weak and Strong Verb Endings
Wenn es mir nicht oefiele, wiirde ich es nicht bezahlen.
fahre$
denken (mixed verb, meaning tothink) ich denkg du denkes!
I drive, lgo you drive, you go
Ithink you think
wie, expressing uncertainty
Erwundertesich,wieesihrwohloinqe. Hewondered howshewas.
l
Unlike wenn and wie etc, the word order does not change after als (meaning when it is used in conditional clauses: it is immediately followed bv the verb. as if or os though)
Sie sah aus, als sei sie
krank.
She looked as if she were ill.
tq D
rrp Wire da sonst noch For
etwas?
further explanation ofgrammatical terms, please
be
anything else?
see pages x-xiv.
lf only I could come earlierl
kdnnte!
D Willthere
The imperfect subjunctive is very common and is not always used to describe actions in the past. lt can, for example, express the future.
Wenn ich nurfriiher kommen
It is quite common to hear the subj unctive used when someone is asking you something politely, for example, the person serving you in a shop might ask:
Forminq the imperfect subjunctive
The imperfect tense and the imperfect subjunctive of weak verbs are identical.