While teaching German online, I often see that students have problems when it comes to understanding the real difference between “mögen” und “möchten”. After reading this article and solving its free worksheet, you will be prepared for your next conversation!
“Mögen” vs “möchten”
In German, there are two very similar words: “mögen” and “möchten”. And as much as they sound similar, their meaning is very different. Therefore, mixing these two German verbs up might cause tricky situations: The fact that the meaning of “mögen” is “to like” and the meaning of “möchten” is “would like to”. Besides, an accusative object follows both words, and both of them are irregular verbs:
Verb conjugation in the present tense
| mögen (to like) | möchten (would like to) |
| ich mag | ich möchte |
| du magst | du möchtest |
| er/sie/es mag | er/sie/es möchte |
| wir mögen | wir möchten |
| ihr mögt | ihr möchtet |
| sie / Sie mögen | sie möchten |
How to use “mögen” and “möchten” in past tense
Now, when we would like to use both verbs in the past tense, a little problem shows up! When “mögen” becomes “mochte” in Präteritum, so one asks oneself, what should happen with “möchten”? Well, that’s quite easy! This verb does not have a real past tense since, in German logic, it would share the same verb with “mögen”. Therefore, we can fall back to the past tense of “wollen” (to want) as “möchten” is its “light” version.
| Mögen | Möchten | |||
| Präteritum | Perfekt | Präteritum | Perfekt | |
| ich | mochte | habe gemocht | wollte | habe gewollt |
| du | mochtest | hast gemocht | wolltest | hast gewollt |
| er/sie/es | mochte | hat gemocht | wollte | hat gewollt |
| wir | mochten | haben gemocht | wollten | haben gewollt |
| ihr | mochtet | habt gemocht | wolltet | habt gewollt |
| sie / Sie | mochten | haben gemocht | wollten | haben gewollt |
After reading this article, you can practice your knowledge with the free worksheet – The Difference between “mögen” und “möchten”. Finally, you will not be confused anymore while using these similar-sounding verbs.
Bis bald!
Steffie
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Hello, I am a beginner (A1 level only), but i’m pretty sure möchten is just the conditional tense of mögen and not a different verb as you say. Is that not correct?? Certainly möchten doesn’t appear as an infinitive in my German dictionary or grammar books…
Hi, you are right that “möchten” is actually the subjunctive II of “mögen”, but today, it is used in the present tense as a separate modal verb (for forming its past tense, we use the past tense of wollen).