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Taking a driving test can be incredibly stressful, especially when the examiner starts pointing out everything you *should have* done differently. To talk about missed opportunities and past obligations, German uses a specific structure: **hätte** + **double infinitive**.

### The Double Infinitive

To express a past regret or instruction like "I should have...", start with the conjugated past subjunctive of *haben* (**hätte**). Instead of using a past participle at the end of the sentence, you use two infinitives: your main action verb, immediately followed by the modal verb (like **sollen**).

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### Using Other Modal Verbs

You can swap out *sollen* for other modal verbs to express different shades of past possibilities and obligations:

- **müssen**: had to / absolutely should have
- **können**: could have
- **dürfen**: with *nicht*, meaning "should not have been allowed to" or "must not have"

Conjugate **haben** to match the subject (*du hättest*, *wir hätten*, *sie hätte*). The double infinitive at the end of the sentence never changes.

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### Position 2 Remains King

Just like in standard main clauses, if you start your sentence with a prepositional phrase, an adverb, or a conjunction like *also* (so / therefore), the conjugated **hätte** stays firmly in the second position. The subject immediately follows it, and the double infinitive still waits at the very end.

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Past possibilities with modals (hätte ... können)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the examiner	der Prüfer
to brake / to slow down, curb	bremsen
The examiner thinks you should have braked.	Der Prüfer denkt, du hättest bremsen sollen.
to honk	hupen
Should I have honked or braked here?	Hätte ich hier hupen oder bremsen sollen?
the rearview mirror	der Rückspiegel
He should have looked in the rearview mirror.	Er hätte in den Rückspiegel schauen müssen.
the shoulder check	der Schulterblick
to fail	durchfallen
Without the shoulder check, you could have failed.	Ohne den Schulterblick hättest du durchfallen können.
to overtake	überholen
We should not have overtaken the car.	Wir hätten das Auto nicht überholen dürfen.
the right of way	die Vorfahrt
She should have observed the right of way.	Sie hätte die Vorfahrt beachten müssen.
the steering wheel	das Lenkrad
I should have turned the steering wheel faster.	Ich hätte das Lenkrad schneller drehen müssen.
the speed	die Geschwindigkeit
Because of the speed, you unfortunately failed.	Wegen der Geschwindigkeit bist du leider durchgefallen.
How could one have overtaken here without the rearview mirror?	Wie hätte man hier ohne den Rückspiegel überholen können?
The examiner could have taken over the steering wheel.	Der Prüfer hätte das Lenkrad übernehmen können.
She had the right of way, so I shouldn't have honked.	Sie hatte die Vorfahrt, also hätte ich nicht hupen sollen.
Despite the speed, you should have done the shoulder check.	Trotz der Geschwindigkeit hättest du den Schulterblick machen müssen.