würden.
The Konjunktiv II tool.

German has a subjunctive mood called Konjunktiv II. It covers hypotheticals, wishes, polite requests, and unreal conditions. Most of the time, one tool handles all of it → würden paired with an infinitive. The structure looks familiar. The meaning shifts completely.

What würden is

würden is the Konjunktiv II form of werden. It is not a separate verb. It is werden in a different mood, with an umlaut added to the stem. Just as werden builds Futur I with an infinitive, würden builds Konjunktiv II with an infinitive. The structure is identical. The signal is completely different.

	Futur I (Indikativ)	Konjunktiv II
Structure	werden + Infinitiv	würden + Infinitiv
Example	Ich werde lernen.	Ich würde lernen.
Meaning	I will study.	I would study.

The only difference is werde vs. würde. The infinitive and the word order stay exactly the same. That one vowel shift moves the sentence from a real future event into the hypothetical.

The forms

würden follows a clean pattern. The stem is würd- throughout. The endings are the same as any regular Konjunktiv II verb.

Person	Form	Example
ich	würde	Ich würde gern reisen.
du	würdest	Du würdest verstehen.
er · sie · es	würde	Er würde kommen.
wir	würden	Wir würden kaufen.
ihr	würdet	Ihr würdet gewinnen.
sie · Sie	würden	Sie würden zustimmen.

Three uses

1. Wishes and hypotheticals

würden expresses what would happen under conditions that are not currently real. The situation is imagined, not actual.

• Ich würde gern schlafen. (I would love to sleep.)
• Er würde dasBuchlesen. (He would read the book.)
• Wir würden sofort kommen. (We would come immediately.)

2. Polite requests

würden softens a request from a direct command into something considerably more polite. This is one of the most practical uses in everyday German.

• Würden Sie mirhelfen? (Would you help me?)
• Würdest du dasFensterschließen? (Would you close the window?)
• Würden Sie bitte warten? (Would you please wait?)

3. Unreal conditions

würden appears in the main clause of an unreal conditional sentence, paired with a wenn clause. The wenn clause sets the imagined condition. The würden clause shows what would follow from it.

• Wenn ich Zeithätte, würde ich lernen. (If I had time, I would study.)
• Wenn es nicht regnen würde, würden wir spazieren gehen. (If it weren't raining, we would go for a walk.)

Notice that the wenn clause uses a different Konjunktiv II form → hätte (from haben), not würden + haben. The most important direct forms (hätte, wäre, könnte) are covered in the full Konjunktiv II article.

For the full picture on Konjunktiv II, including hätte, wäre, and all direct forms: Konjunktiv II. The hypothetical mood.

When not to use würden

Six verbs almost always use their own direct Konjunktiv II form rather than würden. Using würden with these verbs sounds unnatural or overly formal.

Verb	Direct Konjunktiv II	Meaning
sein	wäre	would be
haben	hätte	would have
können	könnte	could
müssen	müsste	would have to
dürfen	dürfte	would be allowed to
sollen	sollte	should / ought to

For everything else, würden + Infinitiv is correct and natural. There is no need to learn individual Konjunktiv II forms for regular verbs, and würden works well for most irregular verbs too.