14.3: Subjunctive I

In German, whenever someone else’s statements are reported or their feelings or opinions are expressed, the subjunctive I mood is used, and that mood is signaled by distinctive forms of the conjugated verbs. Contrast these examples:

In the English sentence, “They say that she is going to Germany,” the verbs “say” and “is going” are in the indicative mood.

In the German equivalent, Man sagt, daß sie nach Deutschland reise, the verb “sagt” is in the indicative mood, but the verb “reise” is in the subjunctive mood, because it is reported speech (indirect discourse).

The meaning of the mood change is to signal that the author of the sentence does not necessarily vouch for the truth of the statement; it allows a writer to remain neutral regarding what he or she is reporting. Note that if the statement is given as a direct quotation, then the indicative mood of the original statement remains: Er sagte: “Sie reist nach Deutschland.”

The forms of the verb in the subjunctive are as follows (using the weak verb reisen (to travel) as our example):

Present Tense

PERSON		SINGULAR		PLURAL
1ST	ich	reise	wir	reisen
2ND	du	reisest	ihr	reiset
3RD	er/sie/es	reise	sie/Sie	reisen

Note: This only differs from the indicative mood in the second person singular and plural (-est and –et instead of –st and –t) and the third person singular (-e instead of –t). Compare the chart of indicative endings in Unit 2.

All verbs in German except for the verb sein follow this conjugation in the present tense subjunctive mood. Thus even the irregular (strong) verb wissen (to know a fact) follows the same pattern:

PERSON		SINGULAR		PLURAL
1ST	ich	wisse	wir	wissen
2ND	du	wissest	ihr	wisset
3RD	er/sie/es	wisse	sie/Sie	wissen

The only exception is, however, very important: sein (to be)

PERSON		SINGULAR		PLURAL
1ST	ich	sei	wir	seien
2ND	du	seiest	ihr	seiet
3RD	er/sie/es	sei	sie/Sie	seien

Note that sein takes no ending in the first and third person singular. These forms are important because they correspond to English “be” and “let be,” dependent on context (explained in the last section of this unit). Compare the equivalent indicative chart for sein in Unit 1.

Past Tenses

The verb forms in the past tense subjunctive are likewise very simple. They are based upon the present tense forms of haben and sein plus the past participle of the verb in question.

Present perfect:

Man sagt, daß sie nach Deutschland gereist sei.
They say that she went (has gone) to Germany.

Man sagt, daß er fleißig gearbeitet habe.
They say that he (has) worked diligently.

Past perfect:

Es wurde berichtet, daß sie nach Deutschland gereist seien.
It was reported that they had travelled to Germany.

Es wurde berichtet, daß sie das Examen bestanden habe.
It was reported that she had passed the examination.

You can see that we translate the forms of haben and sein in the subjunctive past tense according to how the reported statement is introduced. Generally speaking, if the context is in the future tense or present tense (man sagt) then we translate the reported statement in simple past or present perfect; if the context is already in past tense (es wurde berichtet) then the reported statement is best translated in the past perfect tense.

Future Tense

Just as in the indicative mood, we can recognize future tense by the use of werden with an infinitive. The conjugated verb, werden, appears in its subjunctive I form:

PERSON		SINGULAR		PLURAL
1ST	ich	werde	wir	werden
2ND	du	werdest	ihr	werdet
3RD	er/sie/es	werde	sie/Sie	werden

Examples:

Man sagt, daß sie nach Deutschland reisen werde.
They say that she will travel to Germany.

Es wurde berichtet, daß sie nach Deutschland reisen werde.
It was reported that she would travel to Germany.

Note: The subjunctive forms of werden can optionally be translated as “would.”