Breakdown of Wenn der Gastgeber die Vorspeise nicht versalzen hätte, hätten wir sie gegessen.
sie
she
haben
to have
wir
we
essen
to eat
nicht
not
wenn
if / when (conditional, not a question word)
der Gastgeber
the host
die Vorspeise
the appetizer
versalzen
to oversalt
Questions & Answers about Wenn der Gastgeber die Vorspeise nicht versalzen hätte, hätten wir sie gegessen.
How do we form the 'if... had' and 'would have' in this sentence?
To talk about unfulfilled past situations, German uses the Konjunktiv II form of haben or sein plus a past participle. In this sentence, both verbs (versalzen and essen) use haben as their helper. So, 'had oversalted' becomes versalzen hätte, and 'would have eaten' becomes hätten ... gegessen.
Why does the second half of the sentence start with hätten instead of wir hätten?
The entire Wenn clause acts as the first block of information in the sentence. Because German strictly puts the verb in the second position in main clauses, the verb hätten must come immediately after the comma, before the subject wir. You will often see verbs 'touching' across the comma in these types of if-then sentences.
Why doesn't the past participle of versalzen have a ge- at the beginning?
Verbs starting with the inseparable prefix ver- never take a ge- in their past participle. The past participle of versalzen is simply versalzen, which happens to look exactly like its infinitive form.
The English translation says 'we would have eaten it'. Why does the German sentence use sie instead of es?
Pronouns in German must match the gender of the noun they replace. Here, 'it' refers back to the appetizer, which is die Vorspeise (feminine). Therefore, you must use the feminine pronoun sie.
Learn Wenn der Gastgeber die Vorspeise nicht versalzen hätte, hätten wir sie gegessen and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free