If I could: the Konjunktiv II with würde, hätte and wäre
CEFR B1 · part 1
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
The passive with werden: when what is done matters, not whoBuilding a German passive with its two pieces —werden conjugated and the participle at…The genitive: des, der, and the -s stuck onto the nounSaying whose something is with the fourth case: des Mannes, der Frau, des Kindes, der…Relative clauses: der, die, das again, and the verb at the endHooking a description onto a noun with der, die or das, choosing the form with two…als, wenn or wann: German's three ways of saying «when»Choosing between the three with two questions: is it a QUESTION, direct or indirect?…The infinitive with zu: when it goes in and when it does notAttaching a second verb with zu, and knowing the few cases where it is NOT used: after…Reflexive verbs: sich, and the mich that is sometimes mirUsing the dozen reflexives that come up daily —sich freuen, sich interessieren, sich…The rule, in three lines
To talk about what is not real German uses the Konjunktiv II, and the short rule covers nearly everything: würde + infinitive. Ich würde nach Berlin fahren. Only eight verbs have their own form and with those you do NOT use würde: haben gives hätte, sein gives wäre, and the six modals give könnte, müsste, wollte, dürfte, sollte and möchte. The condition takes wenn, with the verb at the end.
The usual slip. Using würde with exactly the eight that do not take it: ich würde Zeit haben instead of ich hätte Zeit. The second mistake is the shape: most of the special forms add an Umlaut to the past vowel —hatte gives hätte, konnte gives könnte— and without it the sentence reads as an ordinary past tense.
Why it catches you out. English is very close: «I would come» is ich würde kommen, and «if I had time» drops the auxiliary exactly as ich hätte Zeit does. The trap is the word itself: würde looks nothing like «would», so learners hesitate over a form they already know how to use.