Other Uses of the Subjunctive

To be more polite, use the subjunctive II form of the modals.

Könnten sie mir bitte helfen? Could you please help me?
Dürfte ich Ihr Telefon benutzen? Could I use your phone?

In modern German, the subjunctive forms of mögen has become almost a synonym of wollen. Was willst du?  = What do you want? Was möchtest du? = What would you like?

Hätte gern is also becoming common as a synonym for "would like" especially when ordering food. Wir hätten gern zwei Colas, bitte. = We would like two colas, please.

Note that these polite forms are only limited to the modal verbs, sein, haben and werden.  For this reason, you may hear Würden Sie mir helfen? but never Hülfen Sie mir?

Subjunctive I (Indirect Discourse)

The Subjunctive I form is used with indirect discourse when reporting what someone says in a formal, impartial way.  The indicative can also be used to imply a statement of fact, while the subjunctive II can be used to imply the statement is open to question (since subjunctive II is used with contrary to fact statements.)  These three distinctions are quite subtle, although they are important.  In everyday conversation, the tendency is to avoid the subjunctive I and to choose instead between the indicative and subjunctive II.

The present tense of Subjunctive I is derived from the present tense of the indicative and formed by adding the following endings to the stem of the verb.  Note that the subjunctive I forms never have the stem vowel change found in their present indicative counterparts.

The only exception is sein, which has no endings in the ich and er forms:

The past tense of Subjunctive I is derived from the present perfect tense of the indicative.  It is composed of the subjunctive I form of haben or sein and a past participle.

The future tense of Subjunctive I is just like the regular future tense in the indicative.  The only difference is that werden uses the subjunctive I forms.

The tense used in an indirect quotation is dependent upon the tense used in the direct quotation that underlies it.  If the direct quotation is in the present tense of the indicative, then the indirect quotation must be in the present tense of the subjunctive I.  If the direct quotation is in any tense referring to past time in the indicative, then the indirect quotation is in the past tense of the subjunctive I.  (Subjunctive I only has one tense when referring to past time, as compared to the three tenses of the indicative.)  If the direct quotation is in the future tense, then the future tense of subjunctive I is used.

In certain cases, the subjunctive I forms and the indicative forms are identical.  In this case, the subjunctive II forms must be used instead.

If the original quotation is in subjunctive II, then the indirect quotation will also be in subjunctive II.