Konjunktiv II: Vergangenheit, Modalverben, Nebensätze

If you grew up in Germany, you would never have to deal with the subjunctive. Hello and welcome to the Lingster Academy! I am your German teacher Julia and today we are dealing with the subjunctive 2 in the past, with modal verbs and in subordinate clauses. This video is already the second of the five-part free grammar workshop in which you can learn the subjunctive 1 and 2 and practice on Zoom with me and ask your questions. Sign up for free via the link below this video, then I will send you all the information and links. And you get materials from my complete grammar course. By the way, you can sign up for the grammar course again from Thursday with a super discount and bonus course. But back to the subjunctive 2. It has three main tasks in German. You can express politeness with it, make suggestions or give advice and say your opinion and finally, the subjunctive 2 is for conditions, wishes and irreals. This is the largest area and is used by native speakers very often. If you want to repeat the basics again, I have linked the video here. Now let's look at the past of the subjunctive 2. There is only one time for the present and future, namely the present, and only one time for the past, so don't worry, there is no past tense, plus perfect and so on. The past of the subjunctive 2 is basically like the perfect. Here are a few examples. Subjunctive present I would like to learn German every day. become plus infinitive Subjunctive past I would like to have learned German every day. would have plus past participle Compare with the normal perfect. I have learned German every day. to have plus past participle Why is there the present tense would, but in the past tense would have? Very simple. The past tense always consists of two verbs. to have or to be plus past participle learned here But the present tense always has only one verb. Here it is to learn. And to make a subjunctive out of it, we need a second verb, and that is normally would. Why do I say normally? You can also use a modal verb like would or could instead of would, but then the meaning of the sentence changes. Look. I would have to learn German every day. What does that mean? If I want to get better, I have to learn more. That's an advice to myself. I could learn German every day. And what does that mean? Hmm, there is no information here, because it is a condition, so we still need a if sentence. Do you remember? If A happens, then B also happens. So what would have to happen so that I could learn every day? I could learn German every day if my day had 48 hours. Or I could learn German every day if I were more motivated. You see, the subjunctive is here in the main clause and in the subordinate clause. What do these sentences look like in the past now? Attention, now it gets a little more complicated. I would have to learn German every day. What happens? We now have three verbs. Why? The past tense is in the modal verb, so I have to, not I have learned. But if we combine müssen and lernen, it is I had to learn. This is the normal perfect with modal verb. Now the can sentence. I could learn German every day if I were more motivated. Let's look at the latter part. If I had been more motivated. Why would I be? Quite simply, the perfect can be formed with have and be. Do you remember? I have been motivated. That's the perfect. I would have been motivated is therefore the subjunctive 2. Small information on the edge. If we native speakers speak to each other, we would probably say The first is the past tense. But that does not exist in the subjunctive, do you understand? Okay, we have now got a first overview of the past and modal verbs. Now we train that a little more intensively, with the examples from the last video. We start with conditions, wishes and irreals, because they often have no modal verbs, and are therefore a little easier. Do you remember the million? If I had a million euros, I would do a lot of great things. What do these sentences look like in the past tense? If I had a million euros, I would buy a house with a pool. If I had a million euros, I would have bought a house with a pool. I would give my dad a trip to Kilimanjaro. I would have given my dad a trip to Kilimanjaro. I would buy a new car for my girlfriend. I would have bought a new car for my girlfriend. But unfortunately I don't have a million. Attention here with modal verb! I could also donate all the money and thus solve real problems. You see, the verb would falls away for the present tense and is exchanged with would, as is normal in the perfect tense. Let's do another example with being in the perfect tense. I am very happy with a million. I would be very happy with a million. I would have been very happy with a million. Let's continue with the wishes, which are relatively simple in the past. I would have loved to have a million euros. I would have loved to be rich. I would have loved to go to Kilimanjaro with my dad. Attention, perfect with being! I would have loved to go to Kilimanjaro with my dad. Next, let's look at the examples about the president. If I were president or chancellor, I would change a lot. If I were president or chancellor, I would have changed a lot. I would invest more money in digital education if I were president. Yes, that's how the past works in the subjunctive 2. Always think of the normal perfect and then simply exchange the auxiliary verb have or be with the subjunctive. Done! So would have or would be. Let's continue with Sandra, who is always stressed and gets good advice from her family and her friends. We now put these in the past. And be careful, there are modal verbs everywhere here! You should go on vacation again. You should have gone on vacation again. You should eat healthier and do more sports. Here, should also apply to healthy eating, you don't need that twice. You could go for a walk in the morning, that would help you. You could go for a walk in the morning, that would have helped you. Attention! Modal verbs in the perfect are always formed with have. Because going for a walk is with be, but that doesn't matter here, because the past is always in the modal verb, okay? Next example! You should put your phone away in the evening, that makes you totally nervous. You should have put your phone away in the evening. Is that clear with the past and the modal verbs? Feel free to write a few sentences in the comments and I will correct them for you. Finally, let's look at the sentence structure in the subordinate clause, because it is a bit special. Take a look at a main clause first. I would have bought a car for my girlfriend. In the subordinate clause. I know that I would have bought a car for my girlfriend. The sentence structure is the same as in the normal perfect in the subordinate clause. The auxiliary verb is at the end. I know that I would have bought a car for my girlfriend. And one more thing with the auxiliary verb to be. I know that I would have gone on vacation very often. Normal perfect. I know that I would have gone on vacation very often. Now it gets more difficult, because the next sentences have a modal verb. You should have put your phone away in the evening. Hättest is at the front and weglegen sollen is at the back. In the subordinate clause, however, there is no front, but only at the back, then all three verbs are there. I think you should have put your phone away in the evening. The order remains the same, in principle quite simple, but many make the mistake that they put hättest at the very end. This happens especially in native speakers. I think you could have gone for a walk in the morning. Here there are even four verbs, because going for a walk is already two. Hättest können is the past, one verb at the beginning and one at the end, and in the middle is spazierengehen. Uff, you see, this is a complex topic, but with a little practice you can definitely do it. Come to our Zoom meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m., then we'll practice together and you can ask me your questions. You get the link to the registration for the workshop, you can find all the information below this video. Ja, ich sag dann mal tschüss, bis zum nächsten Mal! Deine Julia