Video 17: Konjunktiv II (Subjunctive) – Formation, Irreal Situations, würde

Source: Roughly 1 hour 58 minutes total. Approximate topic ranges (logistics/chitchat and long silent/garbled stretches skipped):

• 00:00–01:50 — Roll call, weather small talk, where students are from — pure logistics, skipped
• 01:50–08:00 — Introduction to Konjunktiv II ("conjunctive"): framed as a recap of A2 material; the five uses are introduced (polite requests, suggestions/advice, wishes, irreal/unreal situations, assumptions) — extracted below
• 08:00–17:15 — Formation rule: take the Präteritum stem and add an Umlaut (only if the infinitive already has one); the mögen → möchte exception; first look at modal verbs in Konjunktiv II — extracted below
• 17:15–27:00 — haben / sein / werden in Konjunktiv II: when each is used (main-verb-only sentences vs. würde + infinitive for all other verbs); full conjugation tables; warning against literal translation of "would have" / "would be" — extracted below
• 27:00–35:00 — Practice: building wenn...würde irreal-conditional sentences as a class, plus a two-clause example reviewing Infinitiv mit zu when a sentence has two main verbs — extracted below
• 35:00–48:00 — Note-taking break, attendance-policy announcement, then transition into a picture-description warm-up (an office scene with "Boris and Svea") for an upcoming listening exercise — mostly exam-logistics/description chat, skipped
• 48:00–1:03:00 — Listening exercise: matching three short dialogues to three pictures, then identifying which Konjunktiv II statement (irreal wish) belongs to which picture; Vorschlag vs. Ratschlag vocabulary distinction — extracted below
• 1:03:00–1:16:00 — Extended student drilling: everyone builds wenn...würde sentences from prompts (stressful job, no time, loud office, more money, etc.); several corrections (hätte vs. härte, unter vs. zwischen, innerhalb) — extracted below
• 1:16:00–1:18:00 — Brief Dativ-preposition reminder (mit + meinem Hobby) during sentence correction — extracted below
• 1:18:00–1:35:00 — Chapter 2 vocabulary review (computer/tech terms, travel terms, discount/advice verbs) with a few explicit word-distinction clarifications — extracted below
• 1:35:00–end — Homework assignment, holiday-poll logistics, more page-number exercise instructions — skipped, pure logistics

Topics Covered

• Konjunktiv II: the five uses — polite requests, suggestions/advice, wishes, irreal situations, assumptions
• Formation rule: Präteritum stem + Umlaut (only where the infinitive has one)
• mögen → möchte as a disguised Konjunktiv II form
• haben/sein used directly in Konjunktiv II vs. werden (würde) + infinitive for all other verbs
• Full conjugation: hätte, wäre, würde
• Avoiding literal "would have"/"would be" translation traps
• Building wenn...würde irreal-conditional sentences; revisiting Infinitiv mit zu for two-main-verb sentences
• Vorschlag vs. Ratschlag
• Chapter 2 vocabulary: tech/computer terms, travel terms, discount/guessing verbs

Konjunktiv II: The Five Uses

The teacher introduced Konjunktiv II ("conjunctive") as already partly familiar from A2 (polite requests with modal verbs), now extended to a complete picture. Five uses were listed:

1. Höfliche Bitte (polite request) — Können Sie mir bitte ein Glas Wasser geben? ("Can you give me a glass of water?") vs. the more polite Könnten Sie mir bitte ein Glas Wasser geben? ("Could you please give me a glass of water?") — the second uses Konjunktiv II (könnten) and is more polite than the plain modal verb.
2. Vorschlag/Ratschlag (suggestion/advice) — can also be expressed with a normal modal verb: Du solltest zum Arzt gehen. ("You should go to the doctor") is more polite/softer than Du sollst zum Arzt gehen (which sounds too direct/critical — "das ist zu kritisch").
3. Wünsche (wishes) — Ich wünsche, ich hätte mehr Zeit. ("I wish I had more time").
4. Irreale Situation (irreal/unreal situations) — things that are not true/not possible, e.g. "I wish I could fly."
5. Vermutung (assumption) — expressing uncertainty: Er könnte krank sein. / Er könnte in der Küche sein. ("He might be sick" / "She might be in the kitchen") — used when you're not sure about something (English "may/might"). The class noted this use is not the focus for B1 — the focus here is on polite requests and irreal situations.

Forming Konjunktiv II: Präteritum Stem + Umlaut

Core rule given for regular and modal verbs:

• Take the infinitive, form the Präteritum (add -te, no umlaut at this stage — konnte, durfte, wollte, musste).
• To get Konjunktiv II, take that Präteritum form and add an Umlaut — but only if the infinitive itself already has an Umlaut. You cannot add an Umlaut "by your own will" to a verb that never had one in its infinitive.
  • können → Präteritum konnte → Konjunktiv II könnte (infinitive has Umlaut → added)
  • dürfen → durfte → dürfte (infinitive has Umlaut → added)
  • wollen → wollte → wollte (no change — wollen has no Umlaut in the infinitive, so Präteritum and Konjunktiv II look identical: wollte / wollte)
  • sollen → sollte → sollte (same situation — no Umlaut available)
  • müssen → musste → müsste (infinitive has Umlaut → added)
• Because some verbs (wollen, sollen) have identical Präteritum and Konjunktiv II forms, the teacher said you must rely on context to tell which one is meant in a sentence.
• Reminder: the ich-form and er/sie/es-form conjugate identically in both Präteritum and Konjunktiv II (ich machte, er machte; ich wollte, er wollte).

Exception — mögen / möchte: mögen means "to like" (Präteritum: ich mochte = "I liked / I used to like," e.g. Ich mochte Schokolade — "I liked chocolate"). Many learners think möchte ("would like to") is just a separate, ordinary modal verb learned in A1 — but it is actually the Konjunktiv II form of mögen. mögen = to like (present); möchten = would like to (a wish).

haben / sein / werden in Konjunktiv II

Rule for choosing which verb to use in a Konjunktiv II sentence:

• Use hätte (from haben) only when haben is the main — and only — verb in the sentence (no other verb present).
• Use wäre (from sein) only when sein is the main — and only — verb in the sentence. Example: Wenn ich Student wäre, ... ("If I were a student, ...") — wäre is the only verb here.
• For every other main verb (machen, arbeiten, tanzen, singen, sein-as-non-main, etc.), use würde (Konjunktiv II of werden) + the main verb in infinitive form at the end of the clause. werden in this construction acts like a modal verb: würde takes the normal conjugated-verb position (position 2), and the main verb goes to the very end in its infinitive form. This is the standard two-verb word-order rule (one verb conjugated in position 2, the other infinitive at the end) — German never places a verb in a third or later position.

Conjugation tables given:

Infinitiv	Präteritum	Konjunktiv II
haben	hatte	ich hätte, du hättest, er/sie/es hätte, wir hätten, ihr hättet, sie/Sie hätten
sein	war	ich wäre, du wärest/wärst, er/sie/es wäre, wir wären, ihr wäret, sie/Sie wären
werden	wurde	ich würde, du würdest, er/sie/es würde, wir würden, ihr würdet, sie/Sie würden

(For sein, the teacher noted du wärest and du wärst are both acceptable — "you have an option here.")

Avoiding literal-translation mistakes ("Hinglish"/literal-translation trap, called out explicitly):

• English "would have" → do not translate as würde + haben. Since haben already has its own Konjunktiv II form, just use hätte directly. ("would have" → immer hätte.)
• English "would be" → do not translate as würde + sein. Use wäre directly. ("would be" → immer wäre.)
• The teacher flagged that "would be"/"would have" can sometimes also correspond to a real Präteritum war/hatte depending on sentence sense (e.g. real conditionals like "if he were rich, he would have bought a car" — a past-tense irreal case) — but clarified that at A2/B1 level we only deal with present/future-oriented irreal sentences (e.g. Wenn ich reich wäre, würde ich ein Auto kaufen); the past-tense version ("if I had had money, I would have bought a car") is B2.1, Chapter 3 material, out of scope for now.
• Example worked through live: "I would have a coffee" (e.g. answering a waiter) → Ich hätte einen Kaffee. The teacher noted this has the same underlying sense as the already-familiar Ich möchte einen Kaffee — both are grammatically fine, but using hätte is the more advanced Konjunktiv II form expected for a stronger exam score ("you will be able to clear the exam, but not with flying colors" if you only ever use möchte-level structures).

Building Irreal wenn...würde Sentences

Worked class examples (irreal/hypothetical conditionals — "if X were the case, Y would happen"):

• Wenn ich reich wäre, würde ich ein Auto kaufen. → "If I were rich, I would buy a car." — wäre used because sein is the only verb in the first clause; würde...kaufen used in the second clause because kaufen has no Konjunktiv II form of its own.
• Wenn ich ein Auto hätte, würde ich dich abholen. → "If I had a car, I would pick you up." — hätte (haben is the only verb) / würde...abholen (infinitive at the end).
• Wenn ich ein großes Haus hätte, würde ich alle meine Freunde einladen, um die Party zu genießen. → "If I had a big house, I would invite all my friends to enjoy the party." This sentence was used to revisit Infinitiv mit zu: the second clause has two main verbs (einladen and genießen), so they're connected with um...zu + comma — um die Party zu genießen ("[in order] to enjoy the party"). The teacher clarified zu der Party ("to the party") is a separate prepositional phrase, distinct from the zu that introduces the infinitive clause.
• Wenn wir Zeit hätten, würden wir nach Berlin fahren/gehen. → "If we had time, we would go to Berlin."

Vorschlag vs. Ratschlag

A short vocabulary distinction surfaced while reviewing the "suggestion/advice" use of Konjunktiv II:

• der Vorschlag = suggestion/proposal
• der Ratschlag = advice

Listening/Speaking Practice: Picture-Matching and Sentence Drills

The class did a textbook exercise (course book, around page 44–46) describing a workplace scene with two colleagues, Boris and Svea/Frau Boyer, and a coffee-break/interview setup, then listened to three short dialogues and matched them to three pictures (answers: 1→C, 2→A, 3→B per the class's spoken answers). The following Konjunktiv II statements were identified as expressing the irreal wishes/thoughts of the people in each picture (worked from the textbook, sense reconstructed from the live English paraphrase):

• Wenn ich an seiner Stelle wäre, würde ich ihn auch um Hilfe bitten. → "If I were in his place, I would also ask him for help."
• Wenn Boris nicht so gestresst wäre, würde die Pause mehr Spaß machen. → "If Boris weren't so stressed, the break would be more fun."
• Ich könnte Boris mitnehmen, wenn er nicht bleiben würde. → "I could take Boris with me if he wouldn't stay."

This was followed by an open class drill: each student built their own wenn...würde sentence from a prompt card (e.g. "if I only had to work 4 hours a day," "if my boss brought cake every day," "if the office weren't so loud," "if I earned more money," "if I had to learn another language for work," "if I worked from home"). Notable corrections/clarifications made during the drill:

• hätte vs. härte — a student mispronounced/misspelled hätte; the teacher specifically called out the difference between hätte (Konjunktiv II of haben) and the incorrect härte.
• zunehmen vs. abnehmen clarified: zunehmen = to increase/gain (weight); related to a sentence like Wenn der Chef jeden Tag Kuchen mitbringen würde, würde ich zunehmen. ("If the boss brought cake every day, I would gain weight.")
• annehmen = to accept (distinguished from zunehmen).
• mit + meinem (Dativ) — corrected in a sentence about a hobby: ..., würde ich mehr Zeit für mein Hobby haben / mit meinem Hobby — masculine/neuter dative possessive takes meinem.
• zwischen vs. unter — a student said zwischen meinen Freunden ("between my friends") to mean "among my friends"; the teacher suggested unter meinen Freunden is better for "among/amongst," reserving zwischen more strictly for "between" two things.
• innerhalb vs. während (within vs. during) — discussing a sentence about finding a new job "within the year": the teacher said both innerhalb des Jahres and a "during the year" framing are technically fine, but during the year fits better when talking about a full year (vs. innerhalb eines Monats — "within a month" — for shorter periods).

Chapter 2 Vocabulary

A vocabulary review/quiz covered a mix of computer/tech terms and other Chapter 2 words:

• einfügen = to paste; bearbeiten = to edit (also used loosely for "writing/working on"); ausschneiden = to cut
• einschalten = to turn on; ausschalten = to turn off
• Kopfhörer = headphones; Türöffner = door opener; Datei = file/data
• CD-Spieler = CD player; Stecker = plug; Internetverbindung = internet connection
• Ordner = folder; Verlauf = browsing history; Schalter = switch
• Staubsauger = vacuum cleaner; einsetzen / einfügen = to insert (e.g. inserting a cable into a phone) — contrasted with eingeben, which is specifically used for entering things like a password, not physically inserting an object. ("To insert for example I am inserting the cable inside my phone" → einsetzen/einfügen, not eingeben — eingeben is reserved for entering data like a password.)
• aufladen = to charge (a device)
• Anleitung = instructions; anhaben = to wear/have on
• der Rabatt = discount; verraten = to disclose/reveal; raten = to advise/to guess; geraten = to get into a situation/end up in a state (e.g. Ich bin in eine Situation geraten — "I fell into a situation") — distinguished from raten in the sense of "to guess" (Ich rate, du hast recht — "I guess you're right"); glauben can also be used for "I guess/I assume" in this sense, though raten/vermuten are more common for guessing.
• vermuten = to assume/suppose
• bemerken = to notice
• ansprechend = appealing/eye-catching (adjective) — distinguished from ansprechen (verb, "to address someone/bring something up"); note the spelling difference (ansprechend with -d = appealing; ansprechen without -d = to address).
• merkwürdig = noteworthy/strange
• beeinflussen = to influence
• Erinnerung = memory; Verhalten = behavior; ausreichen = to be sufficient/enough
• Eigenschaften = characteristics/features; aufmerksam = attentive; passieren = to happen

Notes & Tips

• Konjunktiv II formation shortcut: Präteritum stem + Umlaut, but only add the Umlaut if the infinitive already has one (können → könnte, but wollen → wollte unchanged) — relying on context to disambiguate identical Präteritum/Konjunktiv II forms.
• möchte is secretly Konjunktiv II of mögen — useful to remember when explaining why it doesn't conjugate like a "normal" modal verb.
• Translation trap: never build "would have" as würde + haben or "would be" as würde + sein — both haben and sein have their own dedicated Konjunktiv II forms (hätte, wäre) and must be used directly.
• At B1, Konjunktiv II is mostly used for present/future-oriented irreal sentences (wenn ich reich wäre, würde ich...); past-tense irreal sentences ("if I had had money, I would have bought...") are B2.1 material and out of scope here.
• For exam writing/speaking, using Konjunktiv II structures (hätte/wäre) instead of always defaulting to möchte-level phrasing is what separates a passing answer from a stronger one ("you will be able to clear the exam, but not with flying colors" otherwise).
• Word-order reminder reinforced again: with würde + infinitive, German never puts a verb beyond position 2 — one verb conjugated in position 2, the other (infinitive) goes to the very end.
• Two main verbs in one clause still require Infinitiv mit zu / um...zu (e.g. um die Party zu genießen) — Konjunktiv II doesn't change this earlier rule.