Cooking

German recipes are written in one of two forms, and both are worth recognising. The modern one uses the imperative: Schneiden Sie die Zwiebel klein. The older one uses an infinitive standing alone at the end: Zwiebel klein schneiden. That second form has no subject at all and is used for instructions of every kind — assembly instructions, safety notices, exam papers. A third form turns up in old cookery books and nowhere else: man nehme drei Eier, a Konjunktiv I that survives as a fossil. It reads as deliberately old-fashioned now, which is exactly why cookbooks still use it.