dürften

Dürften is the Konjunktiv II (subjunctive II) form of the verb dürfen, which means "to be allowed to" or "may." It is used to express hypothetical permission, polite requests, conditional mood, and probability in indirect or reported speech. It is not the simple past tense; the Präteritum (historical past) of dürfen is durften.

Conjugation and usage

In its Konjunktiv II present, dürften takes the forms: ich dürfte, du dürftest, er dürfte, wir dürften, ihr dürftet, sie dürften. These forms are used to talk about what would be allowed, what could be permitted under hypothetical conditions, or to make polite requests. For example: Dürfte ich Ihnen eine Frage stellen? (May I ask you a question?) Wenn er hier wäre, dürfte er gehen. (If he were here, he would be allowed to go.)

Probability and indirect speech

Dürften is also used to express probability or likelihood in present contexts, especially with plural subjects: Es dürften heute viele Leute kommen. (There are probably many people coming today.) In indirect speech, Konjunktiv II can appear when the speaker reports a statement about permission or possibility that is not asserted as fact.

Relation to other tenses

The Präteritum form of dürfen is durften (ich durfte, du durftest, er durfte, wir durften, ihr durftet, sie durften) and is distinct from the Konjunktiv II dürften. The verb moods with dürfen thus cover real permission (present indicative), hypothetical permission (Konjunktiv II), and past events (Präteritum) as separate forms.

See also

Dürfen as the base verb and its use as a modal auxiliary; contrast with können (ability) and sollen (duty/obligation).