B2 · The subjunctive · about 4 minutes
Unreal past: hätte gemacht
Wenn ich Zeit gehabt hätte, wäre ich gekommen.
The past unreal conditional: one form for both halves, and a modal verb pushes hätte to the front.
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“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 2 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Understand
RememberBoth halves take hätte or wäre — würde has no place in the past unreal.
- When
If and would — Here the condition decides the form, not the position on the clock.
- Signal words
- hätte
- wäre
- wenn
- beinahe
- fast
- sonst
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in German. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker auxiliary verb
| I would have asked | ich hätte gefragt |
| you would have asked (informal) | du hättest gefragt |
| he, she, it would have asked | er, sie, es hätte gefragt |
| we would have asked | wir hätten gefragt |
| you would have asked (plural) | ihr hättet gefragt |
| they, you (formal) would have asked | sie, Sie hätten gefragt |
| I would have come | ich wäre gekommen |
| you would have come (informal) | du wärst gekommen |
| he, she, it would have come | er, sie, es wäre gekommen |
| we would have come | wir wären gekommen |
| you would have come (plural) | ihr wärt gekommen |
| they, you (formal) would have come | sie, Sie wären gekommen |
| haben-verbs | Ich hätte gefragt. |
| sein-verbs | Ich wäre gekommen. |
| with a modal | Ich hätte kommen können. |
| subordinate clause | weil ich es hätte wissen müssen |
| passive | Es wäre gemacht worden. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The past unreal uses hätte or wäre plus a participle, in both halves.
Wenn er gefragt hätte, hätte ich geholfen.If he had asked, I would have helped.
The auxiliary is the one the verb takes in the ordinary perfect.
Ich wäre gern mitgefahren.I would have liked to come along.
With a modal, both verbs stand as infinitives.
Das hätte ich wissen müssen.I should have known that.
In a subordinate clause with a modal, hätte comes before the two infinitives.
Er sagt, dass er es hätte sehen können.He says he could have seen it.
Example sentences
Wenn ich das gewusst hätte!If only I had known that!
Wir wären fast zu spät gekommen.We nearly arrived late.
Das hättest du sagen sollen.You should have said so.
8 more example sentences
Ohne dich wäre es schiefgegangen.It would have gone wrong without you.
Beinahe hätte ich es vergessen.I almost forgot.
Ich hätte dich angerufen, aber mein Akku war leer.I would have called you, but my battery was flat.
Wärst du früher gekommen, hättest du ihn getroffen.Had you come earlier, you would have met him.
Das hätte ins Auge gehen können.That could have ended badly.
Sie hätte es merken müssen.She ought to have noticed.
Fast wäre der Zug ohne uns gefahren.The train nearly left without us.
Ohne den Regen hätten wir gegrillt.We would have had a barbecue if it had not rained.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English builds the second half separately — "would have come" — and the instinct is to reach for würde to do the same. German does not: the main clause takes exactly the same hätte or wäre plus participle as the wenn clause. The würde version is understandable and grammatical at a stretch, but so heavy that careful German avoids it, and it is the clearest single mark of a learner who has translated rather than built the sentence.
Quick check
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
To say what would have happened if something else had, German uses one form in both halves of the sentence: hätte or wäre plus the past participle. Wenn ich Zeit gehabt hätte, wäre ich gekommen. There is no separate "would have" — the same construction does both jobs.
Which auxiliary appears follows the ordinary perfect: verbs that take haben use hätte, verbs of motion and change that take sein use wäre. Nothing new has to be learned about which is which.
A modal verb changes the shape. Instead of a participle, the modal appears as an infinitive after the main one — hätte kommen können — and in a subordinate clause hätte jumps in front of both rather than standing last. This double-infinitive rule is the one systematic place where a finite verb moves forward out of final position, and it applies in the perfect too: weil er hat kommen müssen.
A closer look
Why the auxiliary jumps forward
A subordinate clause sends its finite verb to the end. With a double infinitive that rule breaks: weil ich es hätte wissen müssen, not "weil ich es wissen müssen hätte". The finite hätte stands in front of both infinitives instead.
This is the only systematic exception to verb-final order in German, and it exists because a double infinitive is treated as one block that nothing may follow. Native speakers apply it without thinking and many cannot state it; a learner who applies it correctly sounds noticeably more fluent than the grammar alone would explain.
Exceptions and special cases2
Exception
When the wenn is dropped
then the clause starts with the verb instead.
Hätte ich das gewusst, wäre ich geblieben.Had I known, I would have stayed.
Why? A formal, slightly literary alternative that carries the same meaning.
Exception
When the sentence expresses regret alone
then the second half can be left out entirely.
Wenn ich das nur früher gewusst hätte!If only I had known sooner!
Why? The unfinished conditional is a complete exclamation in German.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
beinahe and fast take this form
A near miss is expressed with the past unreal, because the thing did not in fact happen: Beinahe wäre ich gestürzt. The ordinary past — "beinahe bin ich gestürzt" — is heard everywhere in speech and is not wrong, but the subjunctive is the form careful writing prefers.
Worth knowing
The polite past
Ich hätte eine Frage is present-tense politeness, while Ich hätte gern gefragt is a genuine past unreal. The same two words carry both, and only the participle after them says which is meant.
The verbs on this page, in every form: haben · sein · wissen · sagen · können · müssen · kommen · bleiben