The modal verbs are pretty commonly used in German, also in their KII form. They have their very own form and are never used with "würde". Here quickly all modal verbs in their KII form:
- dürfen - ich dürfte (I should be allowed)
- können - ich könnte (I should be able to)
- mögen - ich möchte (I would like)
- müssen - ich müsste (I should have to)
- sollen - ich sollte (I should)
- wollen - ich wollte (I would want)
We will focus on könnte and möchte as those are the most popular ones for now and they are easily understood by looking at their translation. The full comprehension and proper application of all modal verbs will take you a few months if not years to master and you'll learn a lot more about them in my higher courses. But we got to start somewhere, right? So here we go. Do you get the difference between the normal form (called the Indikativ) and the Konjunktiv II form?
Kannst du ein Instrument spielen?
Are you able to play an instrument?
Könntest du ein Instrument spielen?
Would you (literally: be able to) play an instrument (please)?
Ich mag Pizza.
I like Pizza.
Ich möchte Pizza essen.
I would like to eat pizza.
This topic is covered in: A2-L10