German grammar · Upper intermediate (B2)
The Konjunktiv I: reported speech (er sei, sie habe)
How newspapers and formal texts report what someone said: the Konjunktiv I, when to use the Konjunktiv II instead, and what people say in everyday speech.
What it's for
The Konjunktiv I (subjunctive I) shows that you are passing on someone else's words, without saying whether they are true: It's typical of newspapers, the news on radio and TV, and formal reports.
In everyday conversation it sounds stiff. People use with the normal verb, or the Konjunktiv II:
- Der Minister erklärte, er habe von dem Problem nichts gewusst.The minister stated that he had known nothing about the problem.
- Die Polizei teilte mit, es sei niemand verletzt worden.The police announced that nobody had been injured.
The forms
Take the stem of the infinitive and add -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en. There's no vowel change: , . In practice the / / form is by far the most common, because it's clearly different from the present. is irregular.
| Person | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| / / | ||||
| / |
Past and future
For the past, use the Konjunktiv I of or + past participle, choosing as in the Perfekt: For the future, use + infinitive:
When it looks like the present: use the Konjunktiv II
Where the Konjunktiv I is identical to the present, mostly in the plural and with , German uses the Konjunktiv II instead, so the reader can see it's reported speech: (not ). For most verbs this means + infinitive:
doesn't need this, because is always clear.
| Direct speech | Reported speech |
|---|---|
| „“ | |
| „“ | |
| „“ | |
| „“ |