moo wrote: I mean for some reason stuff like "Er hat gesagt, er habe den Kuchen gegessen" is really hard for me to say. Sometimes , you know the rules and everything but putting it into practice is another story.
Doitsujin wrote:Actually, vogeltje, was right: Konjunktiv I is primarily used for reported speech. If you want to express doubt, you'll have to use Konjunktiv II, at least in formal German.moo wrote:You are right in one way but mine would be right in the sense that you can use it in speech to convey doubt , like if i said that sentence , it would kinda translate you doubting he was telling the truth. That is my take on it
Are you saying that this sentence is formal German? Sorry I'm confused as to what your logic here is. The doubt I see involved is that it would translate to meaning "He said he ate the cake (but the speaker doesn't know if he actually has") There's a subjective attitude here on the speakers part that brings doubt into it. It's not simply reported speech . It's the attitude of the speaker that makes this tense stand out.
I know I can use the example i gave in spoken German and maybe it's for reported speech in the news like you said but when speaking it brings with it a subjective attitude of the speaker which can bring doubt into it. That is what I meant by "doubt" .