9.12 The conditional of "sein" and "haben"

The "conditional subjunctive" mood is used to express what might happen if something else occurred and is normally formed in English with "would" - e.g. "I would go if..." etc. The present-time conditional subjunctive is also used in German to make very polite requests. We have already seen in Chapter 8 how the conditional of some modal verbs is used in this way.

 

The present-time conditional subjunctive of the verbs "haben" and "sein" can be translated into English as "would have" and "would be":

 

Grammar 18: Conditional of the verb "haben" (= to be)

Singular  

ich hätte I would have

du hättest

Sie hätten You would have

(informal/formal) 

er/sie/es hätte He/she/it would have

Plural  

wir hätten We would have

ihr hättet

Sie hätten You would have

(informal/formal) 

sie hätten They would have

 

We have already seen several usages of the conditional form of "haben". It also tends to have the sense of a polite request:

Grammar 20: Conditional sentences with "haben"

Was hätten Sie gern?

("What would you like?")

Ich hätte gerne ein Bier.

("I would like a beer.")

Hätten Sie es gern selbst?

("Would you be buying it for yourself?")

Ich hätte gern Frau Arndt gesprochen.

("I would like to speak to Ms. Arndt.")

 

Occasionally the distinction between the normal present tense and the conditional is a very small one. The following two sentences mean much the same thing - the first is more direct, the second slightly more tentative:

 

Hast du Lust, morgen früh einen Einkaufsbummel zu machen?

(Are you interested in going on a shopping spree tomorrow morning?)

Hättest du Lust, morgen früh einen Einkaufsbummel zu machen?

(Would you be interested in going on a shopping spree tomorrow morning?)