Konjunktiv I for indirect speech: how German reports what others said
Formal indirect speech (indirekte Rede) uses Konjunktiv I — er sage, er habe, er komme, er sei. Learn how to form it and when to switch to Konjunktiv II.
In journalism and official German, what someone else said is reported in Konjunktiv I (the "reporting mood"), which signals that you are only relaying a claim, not asserting it yourself.
Formation. Take the infinitive stem and add the e-endings: -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en. In the er/sie/es form this gives the classic shapes: er sage, er habe, er komme. The verb sein is irregular and has no -e in the singular: ich sei, er sei.
The Konjunktiv II rescue. Wherever Konjunktiv I looks identical to the ordinary indicative — typically the plural, e.g. wir haben — it no longer marks reported speech clearly, so you switch to Konjunktiv II: wir hätten, sie kämen. The same rescue applies in the ich form when ich + Konjunktiv I matches the indicative.
Register. This is the language of news reports, minutes, and officialese. In neutral or spoken German people often just use the indicative (Er sagte, er hat keine Zeit), but in a formal report that form is wrong — use er habe.
Examples
Er sagte, er habe keine Zeit.
He said he had no time.
Sie meint, sie sei krank.
She says she is ill.
Common mistakes
Formal indirect speech uses Konjunktiv I (habe); when KI looks like the indicative, switch to Konjunktiv II (hätte).