Rare German Forms: Konjunktiv I in Wishes, Genitive Objects, Archaic Word Order

The ruleA handful of constructions survive only in law, liturgy, proverbs and literature: recognition is required, production almost never is.

Everything in this topic is dead or dying in ordinary German and entirely alive in the texts a C2 reader is expected to handle. None of it needs to enter your active range; all of it needs to stop being an obstacle.

Konjunktiv I outside reported speech

The optative: a wish or an instruction expressed with the bare subjunctive. It survives in fixed phrases, in mathematical and technical prose, and in liturgy.

Phrase	Means	Where you meet it
Es lebe die Freiheit!	Long live freedom!	Slogans, toasts
Gott sei Dank.	Thank God.	Frozen, everyday
Sei es, wie es sei.	Be that as it may.	Written
Man nehme drei Eier.	Take three eggs.	Old recipes
Sei x eine reelle Zahl.	Let x be a real number.	Mathematics: fully alive
Es werde Licht.	Let there be light.	Biblical

The mathematical use is the only productive one left. A German textbook proof still opens Sei G eine Gruppe, and it is not archaic there at all.

Verbs with a genitive object

Once a full class, now perhaps two dozen verbs, nearly all confined to legal and elevated written German.

Verb	Means	Example
sich einer Sache bedienen	to make use of	Er bediente sich eines Tricks.
jemanden einer Tat beschuldigen	to accuse of	Man beschuldigte ihn des Diebstahls.
sich einer Sache bewusst sein	to be aware of	Ich bin mir des Problems bewusst.
einer Sache bedürfen	to require	Das bedarf keiner Erklärung.
jemanden einer Sache verdächtigen	to suspect of	Sie verdächtigten ihn des Betrugs.
sich einer Sache enthalten	to abstain from	Er enthielt sich der Stimme.
einer Sache gedenken	to commemorate	Wir gedenken der Opfer.

sich bewusst sein is the one that is genuinely current: Ich bin mir dessen bewusst is ordinary careful German. The rest belong to courtrooms and commemorations.

Older word order and dropped forms

Hat er das Buch, das er gestern gekauft, schon gelesen? Has he read the book he bought yesterday? Dropped auxiliary in a relative clause: normal in older prose, still seen in careful writing.
Ich weiß nicht, ob er kommen wird können. I don't know whether he'll be able to come. Future plus double infinitive: grammatical, avoided by everyone.
Es war ein Mann, der hatte drei Söhne. There was a man who had three sons. Main-clause order after a relative pronoun: folk-tale style.
Der Sonne Licht the light of the sun Preposed genitive: poetic only; ordinary German is das Licht der Sonne.

Forms in retreat

Form	Status	Replacement
One-word Konjunktiv II of strong verbs: de\|käme, ginge, führe	Written, receding	würde + Infinitiv
Genitive after de\|wegen, trotz, während	Standard in writing, lost in speech	Dative
ward (preterite of de\|werden)	Archaic	wurde
dünken, gereichen, obliegen	Legal and literary	Ordinary verbs
derselbe / desselben as a pronoun	Bureaucratic, criticised	er, sie, es

Where it goes wrong

Ich bin mir des Problem bewusst.

Ich bin mir des Problems bewusst.

If you are going to use a genitive object at all, the noun still needs its genitive -s. Half-formed elevated register is more conspicuous than plain German would have been, which is the general lesson of this topic.

Common questions

Is Konjunktiv I still used outside reported speech?

Only in fixed expressions and in mathematics. 'Es lebe …', 'Gott sei Dank' and 'Man nehme …' are frozen; 'Sei x eine reelle Zahl' is fully productive in mathematical writing and not archaic at all in that context.

Which German verbs take a genitive object?

Around two dozen, nearly all formal: sich bedienen, bedürfen, gedenken, beschuldigen, verdächtigen, sich enthalten, sich bewusst sein. Only the last is common in ordinary careful German: 'Ich bin mir dessen bewusst'.

Do I need to produce these forms at C2?

No. C2 asks you to read and understand them without hesitation, and to recognise the register they belong to. Producing them outside their proper context is a stronger marker of non-nativeness than avoiding them.