245. The Subjunctive (II) ... Conditional (wenn) Clauses

245.  The Subjunctive (II) ... Conditional (wenn) Clauses  

In the most recent post, we saw how the Subjunctive was used if there was an element of Doubt. The most commonly used form of the Subjunctive occurs in wenn  clauses.

Wenn has 2 meanings, the basic meaning being when ... 
Wenn ich bald nach Deutschland reise, fahre ich zuerst nach Frankfurt.

However, wenn also is used frequently meaning if and often implies Doubt or a Condition. The Tense used most is the Imperfect Subjunctive (or the Pluperfect Subjunctive hätte(n)  or  wäre(n)).

We also saw last time that the formation of the Subjunctive has the endings:

-e,  -est,  -e,  -en,  -et,  -en,  -en

Irregular Verbs (Strong Verbs) add an Umlaut to the stem if possible (with a, o, u) but Regular (Weak) verbs only add the endings to the Imperfect stem ( kaufte, kauftest, kaufte, kauften, kauftet, kauften). Irregular Verbs are almost identical to their Indicative forms so rarely are they seen with the forms above and instead they usually combine with würde(n) (would). Würde  +  Infinitive is basically the construction of the Conditional Tense that can replace the Imperfect Subjunctive forms of the strong verbs....

                                  e.g.        Ich würde mitkommen  =  Ich käme ... mit   

                        Ich würde keine Chance haben  =  Ich hätte keine Chance
Ich würde zornig sein  =   Ich wäre zornig

There are several constructions that have similar uses like wenn and these are:

ob,   als ob,   als   and   falls    The Subjunctive may well come into play with these forms but let us look at some sentences with  wenn itself. Remember that they are Subordiate Clauses and that Word Order rules apply here (See Post 84).

Wenn ich viel Zeit hätte, möchte ich einen Roman schreiben.
Du könntest wohl ins Ausland reisen, wenn du genug Geld hättest.
Wenn wir zu früh ankämen, würden wir ins Cafe gehen.
Ich wäre sicher krank gewesen, wenn ich zuviel gegessen hätte.
Wenn Tina ins Kino mitkommen dürfte, wäre sie sehr glücklich.

One thing to remember, however, is that the Subjunctive is a fairly literary linguistic feature. In my time in Germany, I can't recall too many people using the Subjunctive in everyday speech other than in phrases like  ich möchte,  du könntest,  wir müssten,  sie sollten (Note no Umlaut).

Instead the Present Tense will often suffice:  Hast du Kopfschmerzen, schluck ein paar Pillen!

Another pic showing the Hop on Hop Off open air bus - great way to see sights of a city