The subjunctive “Konjunktiv” in German

The subjunctive mood (in German: der Konjunktiv) is mostly used to express emotions/opinions or possibilities. It’s also used in the reported speech (die indirekte Rede).

There are two different types: Subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I) or “present subjunctive) and Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) or “past subjunctive”. 

I’d like to talk more about them in seperate posts. Here are a couple of examples for you to understand the terminology better - I know it seems to very complicated at first.

Subjunctive I:

Long live the Queen! (Lang lebe die Königin!)

Take two eggs, 1 liter of milk…. (Man nehme zwei Eier, einen Liter Milch…)

Subjunctive II:

If I had money, I would travel the world. (Wenn ich Geld hätte, würde ich die Welt bereisen)

Could you lend me your pen? (Könntest du mir deinen Stift ausleihen?)