Subjunctive I in fixed expressions and the optative

The subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I) survives outside reported speech in a set of fossilised optative and instructional formulas. These are frozen idioms, not productive subjunctive use.

Three main types:

• Optative / wish: Es lebe die Freiheit! (Long live freedom!), Möge es gelingen! (May it succeed!), Gott sei Dank (Thank God)
• Instruction (recipes, maths): Man nehme zwei Eier. (Take two eggs.), Es sei x = 2. (Let x = 2.)
• Concessive idiom: koste es, was es wolle (whatever the cost), Sei dem, wie ihm wolle (be that as it may)

Example:

• Es lebe die Freiheit, koste es, was es wolle! - Long live freedom, whatever the cost!

Common mistakes: These are set phrases - do not generalise the form to ordinary statements. The form is the present subjunctive (lebe, nehme, sei, wolle), distinct from the indicative (lebt, nimmt, ist, will); learners often substitute the indicative and lose the formulaic flavour. Outside these idioms, productive Konjunktiv I otherwise appears chiefly in indirect speech.

The subjunctive I in fossilised optative and instructional phrases ('long live …', 'take …', 'whatever the cost').

The Konjunktiv I survives in wishes ('Es lebe die Freiheit!'), recipe/maths instructions ('Man nehme zwei Eier', 'Es sei x = 2') and concessive idioms ('koste es, was es wolle').

Konjunktiv I in erstarrten optativischen und anweisenden Wendungen: 'Es lebe …!', 'Man nehme …', 'koste es, was es wolle'.