Subjunctive I
How to Recognize the Subjunctive I
Konjunktiv I (indirekte Rede)
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This is the continuation of our lesson on the Subjunctive I in German and how it is used. This part discusses how to recognize the Konjunktiv I and what it means.
How Do You Recognize the Subjunctive I?
The Konjunktiv I is usually formed by adding an e-ending to the infinitive stem of a verb (-en in the plural), rather than the normal (indicative) t-ending. This form of the verb is also known as the "indirect discourse" or "indirect quotation" form. It is used to indicate what someone has said, without any claim that it is true or not. One rare exception to the rule is sein (to be), which has the unique Subjunctive I forms sei and seien (pl.) in the third person.
Subjunctive I Examples (in red):
haben to have (infinitive)
er hat he has (3rd person indicative)
er habe (he says) he has (Subjunctive I, quotative)
gehen to go (infinitive)
er geht he goes (3rd person indicative)
er gehe (he says) he has (Subjunctive I, quotative)
sein to be (infinitive)
sie ist she is (3rd person indicative)
sie sei (she says) she is (Subjunctive I, quotative)
arbeiten to work (infinitive)
er arbeitet he works (3rd person indicative)
er arbeite (he says) he works (Subjunctive I, quotative)
können to be able, can (infinitive)
er kann he can (3rd person indicative)
er könne (he says) he can/could (Subjunctive I, quotative)
By its "quotative" nature, the Subjunctive I forms are usually seen in the third person: er komme, sie sei, der Mann lebe, and so forth. Because the third-person plural Subjunctive I forms are usually identical to the indicative forms, the Subjunctive II forms may be used instead. ("Die Leute sagten, sie hätten kein Geld." = "The people said they have no money.")
In the chart below, you can see an example of how the Subjunctive I forms of the verb gehen only differ from the indicative present tense in the third person singular and the du/ihr familiar forms (rarely used):
| Subjunctive I of gehen (to go) | |||||
| ich | du* | er/sie/es | wir | ihr* | sie/Sie |
| gehe | gehest | gehe | gehen | gehet | gehen |
| Present Indicative of gehen (to go) | |||||
| gehe | gehst | geht | gehen | geht | gehen |
| *Although different from the indicative, the Subjunctive I forms of du and ihr are rarely seen or used. | |||||
Unlike most German verbs, the highly irregular verb sein (to be) has a distinct Subjunctive I form that differs from the present tense indicative in all persons. But, as with most other verbs in the Subjunctive I, the "present subjunctive" of sein is rarely seen in the non-third-person forms. The same is true of the German modal verbs (dürfen, müssen, können, etc.) and wissen (to know) in the Subjunctive I.
| Subjunctive I of sein (to be) | |||||
| ich | du | er/sie/es | wir | ihr | sie/Sie |
| sei | seist | sei | seien | seiet | seien |
| Present Indicative of sein (to be) | |||||
| bin | bist | ist | sind | seid | sind |
| Although they are different from the indicative, the non-third-person Subjunctive I forms of sein are rarely seen or used. | |||||
As the above charts make evident, students of German can concentrate on recognizing the third person forms of the Subjunctive I (aka "the quotative"). It makes no sense to study all the subjunctive forms that are never or rarely used. For all practical purposes, you only need to learn to spot the quotative forms when you see er, sie or es used with a verb that ends in e. To learn more about what the quotative forms mean, see Subjunctive I - Part One.
Other Tenses
As we explained in Part One, the Subjunctive I is a verb mood, not a tense. The subjunctive can be used in any tense, present, past, or future. To form the various tenses in the subjunctive, the verbs haben, sein, and werden (in their subjunctive forms) are used to form a compound tense. Here are a few examples:
Er sagte, er schreibe den Brief.
He said he's writing the letter. (present tense)
Er sagte, er habe den Brief geschrieben.
He said he wrote the letter. (past tense)
Er sagte, er werde den Brief schreiben.
He said he will write the letter. (future tense)
Sie sagte, sie fahre nach Hong Kong.
She said she's traveling to Hong Kong. (present tense)
Sie sagte, sie sei nach Hong Kong gefahren.
She said she traveled to Hong Kong. (past tense)
BACK > Subjunctive I - Part One
MORE > Subjunctive II
MORE > Verb-Lexikon - Our German verb index
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