Unfulfilled past events (wäre fast ...)

Almost Disasters

Action movie sets are full of close calls. To describe a near miss—something that almost happened but ultimately didn't—German uses the past subjunctive (Konjunktiv II) combined with the adverbs fast or beinahe (both meaning "almost").

You form the past Konjunktiv II with the helper verbs wäre or hätte in the second position, and the past participle of the action verb at the very end of the clause.

Wäre vs. Hätte

Just like in the regular perfect tense, verbs that express motion or a change of state take sein as their helper (which becomes wäre in Konjunktiv II). Most other verbs take haben (which becomes hätte).

"On Me" All Over Again

You can easily combine these near misses with the "dative of disadvantage" from the previous lesson. If a prop almost breaks or a stunt car almost crashes, you can add a dative pronoun (like mir or dem Double) to show who the victim of the near-accident would have been.

Contrasting Realities

To contrast the sheer terror of a stunt with a much calmer reality, use the conjunction wohingegen (whereas). Because it is a subordinating conjunction, it kicks the conjugated verb to the very end of its clause.