7.12 Subjunctive I: reported speech

The condition may be expressed through an ADVERBIAL:

The condition may have to be inferred from the wider context:

Bei dem Wetter wäre ich zu Hause geblieben. In that weather I would have stayed at home. Ohne ihre Hilfe hätte ich den Ringnicht gefunden. Without her help I wouldn’t have found the ring.

Ich wäre lieber zu Hause geblieben. I would have preferred to stay at home. Ich hätte an deiner Stelle dasselbe getan. If I’d been you, I’d have done the same.

The main use of subjunctiveI in German is to indicate reported speech. The standard rule is that reported speech is put into subjunctiveI using the same tense as was used in the indicative in the original direct speech:

Note that the ‘perfect subjunctive’ is used if the tense of the original direct speech was the past or the perfect. If the form of subjunctive I is the same as the indicative, subjunctive II is used in place of subjunctiveI:

tense of direct speech

present „Sie weiß es.“ “She knows it.” past „Sie wusste es.“ “She knew it.” perfect „Sie hat es gewusst.“ “She knew/has known it.” future „Sie wird es wissen.“ “She will know it.”

reported speech:subjunctive I

Er sagte, sie wisse es. He said she knew it. Er sagte, sie habe es gewusst. He said she had known it. Er sagte, sie habe es gewusst. He said she had known it. Er sagte, sie werde es wissen. He said she would know it.

tense of direct speech

present „Sie wissen es.“ “They know it.” past „Sie wussten es.“ “They knew it.” perfect „Sie haben es gewusst.“ “They knew/have known it.” future „Sie werden es wissen.“ “They will know it.”

reported speech:subjunctive II

Er sagte, sie wüssten es. He said they knew it. Er sagte, sie hätten es gewusst. He said they had known it. Er sagte, sie hätten es gewusst. He said they had known it. Er sagte, sie würden es wissen. He said they would know it.