Konjunktiv I in FSP documentation: rules, verb table, examples

Why the documentation needs reported speech

The Anamnesebogen (history form) and the Arztbrief (doctor's letter) contain two kinds of information side by side: what the patient told you, which you have not verified, and your own medical assessment. Konjunktiv I marks the first kind as reported speech. “Die Patientin hat Fieber” (the patient has a fever) reads like a measured finding; “sie habe heute Morgen 38,6 °C gemessen” (she says she measured 38.6 °C this morning) shows that the information comes from her.

The chambers ask for exactly this separation in their own words. Saxony writes: “Geben Sie exakt das Gesagte wieder, interpretieren Sie nichts” (reproduce exactly what was said, interpret nothing). Rhineland-Palatinate wants clinical details “so, wie vom Patienten berichtet” (as reported by the patient). Berlin grades whether the document is “grammatisch korrekt” and renders “die wesentlichen Anamnesebefunde semantisch korrekt” (the essential history with correct meaning).

None of the chamber documents reviewed for this article states an explicit Konjunktiv requirement. Practice shows what is expected, though: the Brandenburg chamber's sample letters render the entire history in reported speech — “Sie gab an, dass ihre Beine seit mehreren Wochen dicker geworden seien und sie seit ein paar Tagen nicht mehr ihre Schuhe anziehen könne” (she stated that her legs had become more swollen over several weeks and that for a few days she had been unable to put her shoes on). And according to Duden, reported speech is the main use of Konjunktiv I. Wherever your chamber requires full sentences (an overview is in FSP documentation), Konjunktiv I is therefore the safe standard.

Who is speaking? Konjunktiv, indicative or keyword

Two rules follow. First: the tense of the reporting verb does not change the Konjunktiv — “sie gibt an, sie habe …” and “sie gab an, sie habe …” are both correct. Second: you do not need to introduce every sentence anew. Without “dass” (that) or a question word, the Konjunktiv is the only sign of reported speech and is therefore required; Duden gives the example “Er sagt, er sei (nicht: ist) müde. Heute sei (nicht: ist) wohl nicht sein Tag.” A paragraph can thus start with “Die Patientin berichtet, …” and continue in Konjunktiv sentences without a new reporting verb. After “dass”, Konjunktiv is also correct: “Sie gibt an, dass sie seit gestern Schmerzen habe.”

How to form Konjunktiv I

Present: present stem plus ending

Take the infinitive, drop “-en” and add the Konjunktiv ending: -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en. For documentation you need almost only the third person singular in -e: haben → er habe, nehmen → sie nehme, leiden → er leide, rauchen → sie rauche.

The vowel change of the indicative disappears, because the form comes from the infinitive: er nimmt → er nehme, sie gibt an → sie gebe an, es tritt auf → es trete auf, sie schläft → sie schlafe, er trägt auf → er trage auf, er weiß → er wisse. The same applies to modal verbs: er kann → er könne, sie muss → sie müsse, er darf → er dürfe.

“Sein” is irregular and unambiguous in every person: ich sei, du sei(e)st, er sei, wir seien, ihr seiet, sie seien. Separable verbs stay separated: “Sie nehme regelmäßig Metformin ein.” “Der Schmerz strahle in die rechte Schulter aus.”

Past: habe or sei plus past participle

If the patient spoke about something in the past — whether in the perfect (“ich habe erbrochen”) or the simple past (“es fing gestern an”) — use the past Konjunktiv I: “habe” or “sei” plus past participle. Duden describes this as a time relation: simultaneous → Konjunktiv I present, earlier → Konjunktiv I perfect, later → Konjunktiv I future.

The auxiliary is the same as in the perfect: “sie habe erbrochen”, but “die Schmerzen seien aufgetreten”, “er sei gestürzt”. With modal verbs the infinitive replaces the participle: “Sie habe die ganze Nacht nicht schlafen können” (she says she could not sleep all night).

Future and passive

Future: “werde” + infinitive — “Er werde am Montag wieder arbeiten.” Passive: “werde” or “sei … worden” — “Sie sei noch nie operiert worden” (she has never had an operation), “1995 sei ein Kaiserschnitt durchgeführt worden” (a caesarean section was performed in 1995).

Substitute forms: Konjunktiv II and “würde”

For most verbs, Konjunktiv I differs from the indicative in only a few persons. Using “haben” as an example:

In a history this mainly affects the third person plural: “die Schmerzen”, “die Eltern”, “die Beschwerden” (the pains, the parents, the complaints). The first person singular (“ich habe”) is also ambiguous but hardly matters, because “ich” becomes “er” or “sie” in the documentation. “Wir” matters more: “Meine Frau und ich haben dasselbe gegessen” (my wife and I ate the same thing) becomes “seine Frau und er …” — third person plural. Then follow this order:

1. Konjunktiv I if it is unambiguous: “Die Beschwerden seien gestern aufgetreten.” With “sein” it always is.
2. Konjunktiv II if Konjunktiv I sounds like the indicative: “Die Schmerzen hätten gestern begonnen” (not: haben), “Die Kopfschmerzen kämen meist morgens” (not: kommen), “Es bestünden Übelkeit und Appetitlosigkeit” (not: bestehen).
3. “würde” + infinitive if Konjunktiv II also sounds like the simple past — true of all regular verbs — or feels archaic: “Beide Eltern würden rauchen” (rauchten = simple past), “Die Anfälle würden meist abends beginnen” instead of the stilted “begännen”.
4. Often the most elegant option: rephrase. A singular subject or a sentence with “sein” makes the form unambiguous: “Beide Eltern seien Raucher.” “Der Schmerz nehme nachts zu.”

The würde form is a substitute, not the standard. Where Konjunktiv I is unambiguous, “würde” is misleading and poor style: “Der Patient würde rauchen” sounds like “he would smoke if …”. The correct form is “Der Patient rauche”. Duden recommends the würde form in reported speech only for future or unreal events and as a substitute for ambiguous forms. In the past, too, it stays “hätten … gehabt”, not “würden … gehabt haben”.

Verb table: 27 verbs from history taking

Two notes. “Würden” for “werden” is not the würde substitute but the Konjunktiv II of “werden” itself. And trinken, beginnen, erbrechen and vertragen do have unambiguous Konjunktiv II forms (tränken, begännen, erbrächen, vertrügen), but they are considered archaic, so the table gives the würde form.

Reporting verbs and their prepositions

Vary the reporting verb instead of starting every sentence with “Der Patient gibt an” — and watch the preposition and case:

• angeben: “Die Patientin gibt an, seit gestern Fieber zu haben.” If the subject stays the same, an infinitive with “zu” is an elegant alternative that needs no Konjunktiv.
• berichten über + acc. / von + dat.: “Er berichtet über krampfartige Schmerzen”, “von einem ähnlichen Ereignis vor zwei Jahren”.
• klagen über + acc.: “Sie klagt über starke Kopfschmerzen.”
• verneinen / bejahen (deny / confirm) + acc.: “Fieber und Schüttelfrost werden verneint.” “Er verneint Brennen beim Wasserlassen.”
• beschreiben als: “Den Schmerz beschreibt sie als pochend.”
• äußern, erwähnen, schildern: “Sie äußert die Sorge, es könne sich um einen Tumor handeln.”
• Third-party history: “Nach Angaben der Tochter sei die Patientin seit gestern auffallend müde.”
• leiden an + dat. for diseases, leiden unter + dat. for burdens: “Die Mutter leide an einer Hypertonie.” “Er leide unter Schlafstörungen.”
• Unknown details: “Den Namen des Präparats wisse er nicht” or briefly “Präparat nicht erinnerlich” (name of drug not remembered).

20 conversions: from the patient's words to the documentation

The quotes come from fsppruefung.de's fictional practice cases. Both columns stay German, as in the exam.

Watch the small shifts: “ich” becomes “er/sie”, “mir” becomes “ihm/ihr”, “mein” becomes “sein/ihr”. Time references such as “seit gestern” (since yesterday) can stay, because you document on the same day. And where a translation would already be an interpretation (“komisch geredet”, talked strangely, is not the same as “verwirrt”, confused), keep the wording in quotation marks.

Common mistakes

Also avoid switching constantly between “habe”, “hätte” and “hat” within one paragraph, and avoid piling up “würde”. Both make the text look unsure, and where grammar is graded explicitly — in Berlin, for example — they cost points. More pitfalls across all exam parts are collected in Common FSP mistakes; how the history is gathered in the conversation is covered in History taking.

Sources

• Duden: Konjunktiv I oder II?
• Duden: Die drei Modi der deutschen Sprache
• Duden: Vorvergangenheit in der indirekten Rede
• Duden – Grundwissen Grammatik (Leseprobe)
• Duden Ratgeber – Stolpersteine der Grammatik (Leseprobe)
• Landesärztekammer Brandenburg: Musterbrief internistischer Fall
• Sächsische Landesärztekammer: Fachsprachenprüfung
• Bezirksärztekammer Rheinhessen: Ablaufhinweise zur Fachsprachenprüfung (FSP) 2024 in Mainz
• Ärztekammer Berlin: Musterbewertungsbogen Schriftliche Dokumentation