German Konjunktiv II — würde, hätte, wäre

German has a form for things that are not facts: wishes, hypotheticals, and polite requests. It is called Konjunktiv II, and in practice it is three memorised words plus one pattern.

The three carry most of the everyday load:

würde plus infinitive covers almost everything

For nearly every verb, you do not need a special form at all. Take würde and put the infinitive at the end.

Ich würde gern nach Berlin fahren. — I would like to go to Berlin.

Das würde ich nicht sagen. — I would not say that.

This works with any verb, and a German speaker will never find it odd. It is the safe default.

Except for these, where the real form is normal

With a small group, the würde construction sounds clumsy and native speakers use the proper Konjunktiv form instead. These are worth knowing as vocabulary.

Notice the shape: the simple past plus an umlaut. ich war becomes ich wäre; ich hatte becomes ich hätte; ich konnte becomes ich könnte. sollte and wollte have no umlaut to add, so they look identical to their past tense and context does the separating.

Politeness is the everyday use

This is where a learner meets it first, and where using it matters most. The direct form is not rude exactly, but it is blunt in a way that gets noticed.

Ich hätte gern is the single most useful phrase in this guide. It is how you order anything in a café, shop or restaurant, and it is worth learning as a fixed unit before you understand the grammar behind it.

Hypotheticals: wenn plus two Konjunktiv verbs

For "if this, then that", both halves take the Konjunktiv form.

Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich mehr lesen.

— If I had more time, I would read more.

wenn also sends its verb to the end, as always — see weil, dass, wenn.

You can drop wenn entirely and start with the verb, which sounds more written than spoken:

Hätte ich mehr Zeit, würde ich mehr lesen.

Talking about the past that did not happen

For regrets and might-have-beens, use hätte or wäre with a past participle.

Ich hätte das nicht sagen sollen. — I should not have said that.

Das wäre besser gewesen. — That would have been better.

Which of hätte or wäre you use follows the same split as the perfect tense: verbs of movement and change take wäre, everything else takes hätte. Perfekt or Präteritum sets that out.

What to actually memorise

Ich hätte gern, könntest du, and ich wäre. Then use würde plus infinitive for every other verb and you will be understood everywhere, while you pick the rest up by ear.