Konjunktiv I: reporting what someone said

When you pass on what someone else said, German has a special verb form for it: the Konjunktiv I (subjunctive I). It tells the reader: this is what they said; I am only reporting it. It does not mean the reporter doubts it. It simply keeps the reporter's voice and the speaker's voice apart.

• Der Minister sagte, die Lage sei unter Kontrolle.The minister said the situation was under control.
• Meine Kollegin meint, sie habe keine Zeit für ein Treffen.My colleague says she has no time for a meeting.

You meet Konjunktiv I above all in news, reports, minutes and formal writing. In everyday conversation most people use the indicative (Sie hat gesagt, sie ist krank) or Konjunktiv II (Reported questions, requests and the switch to Konjunktiv II).

How to form it

Take the infinitive stem and add the endings -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en. There are no vowel changes: er fährt becomes er fahre, sie nimmt becomes sie nehme, er kann becomes er könne.

In practice you need mostly the er/sie/es form, because reported speech is usually about a third person. The bold forms are the ones you will read every day. sein is the only verb with an irregular set: ich sei, er sei, wir seien, sie seien (no -e on sei).

Changing the pronouns

As in English, the pronouns shift to the reporter's point of view.

Three time frames

Konjunktiv I only distinguishes present, past and future. The tense of the reporting verb (sagt, sagte, hat gesagt) does not matter; what counts is the time of the original statement.

All three past tenses of direct speech collapse into habe/sei + participle.

• Der Zeuge gab an, er habe den Täter nicht gesehen.The witness stated that he had not seen the perpetrator.
• Die Firma teilte mit, sie werde im Herbst neue Stellen schaffen.The company announced that it would create new jobs in the autumn.
• Jonas behauptet, er könne fließend Japanisch.Jonas claims he can speak fluent Japanese.
• Die Sprecherin erklärte, man wisse noch nichts Genaues.The spokeswoman explained that nothing definite was known yet.
• Lena erzählte, sie sei am Wochenende in Hamburg gewesen.Lena said she had been in Hamburg at the weekend.
• Die Ärzte betonen, es gebe keinen Grund zur Panik.The doctors stress that there is no reason to panic.

dass is optional. Without dass the reported clause keeps main-clause word order (er sei krank); with dass the verb goes to the end (dass er krank sei).

Konjunktiv I is a neutral marker of reported speech, not a sign of disbelief. When the reporter wants to cast doubt, German uses other means, for example angeblich (allegedly) or the modal soll (Modal verbs for likelihood and claims).

Common mistakes

• Anna sagt, ich sei müde. The pronoun must change to the reporter's view: Anna sagt, sie sei müde.
• Er sagte, er sei gestern krank. A past event needs the past form: Er sagte, er sei gestern krank gewesen.
• Er sagte, er wäre krank gewesen sei. Don't stack forms. One auxiliary in Konjunktiv I plus the participle: er sei krank gewesen.
• er seie, sie habt These forms don't exist: er sei, sie habe.
• Die Kollegen sagten, sie haben keine Zeit. In formal writing, sie haben looks like the indicative, so German switches to Konjunktiv II: sie hätten keine Zeit. See Reported questions, requests and the switch to Konjunktiv II.