hätte

Hätte is the Konjunktiv II form of the German verb haben. It marks the subjunctive mood used for counterfactual statements, wishes, polite requests, and indirect speech. The standard present forms are ich hätte, du hättest, er/sie/es hätte, wir hätten, ihr hättet, sie hätten. In many contexts the Konjunktiv II you hear in spoken German mirrors a conditional meaning even when the literal sense is not strictly unreal.

Common uses include conditional clauses, wishes, and reported speech. For example: Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich mehr lesen. This expresses a hypothetical situation. Ich hätte gern einen Kaffee is a polite request meaning “I would like a coffee.” In indirect speech you can encounter: Er sagte, er hätte Hunger, or Er sagte, er habe Hunger, depending on the tense of the original statement.

Formation and tenses: Konjunktiv II is formed with habe in the appropriate subjunctive combination, followed by a past participle when forming perfect meanings. Ich hätte gegessen means “I would have eaten.” The past conditional can extend to longer clauses: Wenn ich das gewusst hätte, wäre ich gekommen. Here gehärteten forms combine hat/had with relevant participles in the subjunctive mood.

Relation to other moods: Many speakers also use würde + infinitive to express the conditional, especially in informal speech: Wenn ich mehr Zeit hätte, würde ich mehr lesen. Nonetheless, hät te remains the standard Konjunktiv II form for haben and its related constructions, including past conditional and indirect speech.