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Have you ever bought something and immediately regretted it? To express an unfulfilled wish or regret ("If only I had..."), German uses **Konjunktiv II** combined with specific particles.

### Dropping "Wenn" (Verb-First Wishes)

A common way to express regret is to start the sentence directly with the conjugated Konjunktiv II verb (like **hätte** or **wäre**).

Because a verb-first sentence normally creates a yes/no question, you add **nur**, **doch**, or **doch nur** after the subject to turn it into an exclamation of "If only...!" For past regrets, the past participle goes at the very end.

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### Wishes Starting with "Wenn"

You can also start these wishes with **wenn** (if). As a subordinating conjunction, **wenn** moves the conjugated verb to the end of the clause. The particles **nur** or **doch** sit in the middle of the sentence.

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### Present-Tense Wishes

To wish for your *current* reality to be different, use the present-tense Konjunktiv II (like **wäre** or **hätte**) without a past participle.

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Unfulfilled wishes (nur / doch)

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 buyer	der Käufer
the auction	die Auktion
The buyer is nervous before the auction begins.	Der Käufer ist nervös, bevor die Auktion anfängt.
the bid	das Gebot
The bid is unfortunately too high.	Das Gebot ist leider zu hoch.
the artwork	das Kunstwerk
I bought the artwork before you made a bid.	Ich habe das Kunstwerk gekauft, bevor du ein Gebot gemacht hast.
the original	das Original
to buy at auction	ersteigern
I would like to buy the original at auction.	Ich möchte das Original ersteigern.
If only I had bought the original at auction!	Hätte ich das Original doch nur ersteigert!
to outbid	überbieten
If only the other buyer had not outbid me!	Wenn der andere Käufer mich nur nicht überboten hätte!
the forgery	die Fälschung
Is this artwork a forgery?	Ist dieses Kunstwerk eine Fälschung?
worthless	wertlos
The forgery is completely worthless.	Die Fälschung ist ganz wertlos.
If only the forgery were not worthless!	Wäre die Fälschung doch nur nicht wertlos!
to regret	bereuen
I regret that I outbid him.	Ich bereue, dass ich ihn überboten habe.
Leave the auction before you regret the bid!	Verlasse die Auktion, bevor du das Gebot bereust!
If only I had not outbid him!	Wenn ich ihn nur nicht überboten hätte!
to wish	wünschen
I wish you all the best.	Ich wünsche dir Alles Gute.
What do you wish for your birthday?	Was wünschst du dir zum Geburtstag?
glad	froh
I am glad that you are here.	Ich bin froh, dass du da bist.
She was very glad about the present.	Sie war sehr froh über das Geschenk.

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