How to learn The Difference between “mögen” and “möchten” in German

The Difference between “mögen” and “möchten” in German

Many people wonder about the difference between the German verb forms mögen and möchten.

First of all, you need to know that there is no German infinitive *möchten.

I’m aware that there are some websites where you can find the expression “the verb möchten” but this information is wrong.

Möchten is a verb from derived from the modal verb mögen, namely the Konjunktiv II, but used with present meaning.

Difference in meaning between mögen and möchten

The modal verb in its infinitive form mögen generally means “to like” and this is the meaning you express if you conjugate it with a -g- in its root (mag).

However, the conjugation with -chte (möchte) means “to want/would like”.

Thus, there are two ways of conjugating the German modal verb mögen as you can see in the following table:

Modal verb infinitive mögen
Conjugation root:	mag-/mög-	möcht-
Meaning →	to like* something/somebody*	want/would like something
ich	mag	möchte
du	magst	möchtest
er/sie/es	mag	möchte
wir	mögen	möchten
ihr	mögt	möchtet
sie/Sie	mögen	möchten

How is it possible for one verb to have 2 conjugations with different meanings?

The explanation is similar in English: “liking something” doesn’t mean you “want” it.

But used with the modal verb “would” (corresponding to Konjunktiv II in German), i.e. saying “you would like something”, this is a polite way to express that you want something.

For the grammarians interested: In order to obtain the Konjunktiv II of the irregular verbs, in German we use the Präteritum (simple past) root plus umlaut dots on the root vowel and an -e at the end (if there isn’t one already):

mögen (Infinitiv) → ich mochte (Präteritum) → ich möchte (Konjunktiv II)

to like (infinitive) → I liked (simple past) → I would like

The last important thing you must know is that the conjugation with -g- (mag/mög-) normally is combined with a noun while the conjugation with -cht- (möchte) can be combined both with a noun and a verb.

Examples

Ich mag Fisch. (I like fish.)
Ich möchte Fisch. (I would like fish.)
Ich möchte bestellen. (I would like to order.)
Ich möchte Fisch bestellen. (I would like to order fish.)

If you wonder how we express in German that you “like doing something”, we use the adverb gerne after the conjugated verb:

Ich esse gerne Fisch. (I like eating fish.)

“Mögen” vs “möchten”

There are two very similar words in German: “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, which are irregular verbs.