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For ${\mathfrak{sl}}_2$, the Verma module has basisby the Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem. If $hv=\lambda v$, thenFor $\lambda =-d$ with $d>0$, the coefficient isfor every $r\ge 1$. Thus no $f^{r}v$ with $r>0$ is a singular vector.

Any nonzero submodule contains a weight vector $f^{r}v$ because the $h$-weights are distinct. Applying $e^r$ gives a nonzero multiple of $v$, after which applying powers of $f$ generates all of $M(-d)$. HenceThis is also the negative-highest-weight case of Reducibility of an sl2 Verma module.

For the sl2 Lie algebra, let $v_{\lambda }$ be the highest-weight vector. The Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem gives the basis $(f^r{v}_{\lambda }{)}_{r\ge 0}$, and the defining Lie brackets implyA positive-degree basis vector is singular exactly when $r=\lambda +1$ is a positive integer. Therefore $M_{\lambda }$ is irreducible when $\lambda \notin {\mathbb{Z}}_{\ge 0}$.

If $\lambda =m\in {\mathbb{Z}}_{\ge 0}$, the vector $f^{m+1}{v}_{\lambda }$ has weight $-m-2$ and generates a submodule isomorphic to $M_{-m-2}$. The latter is irreducible because $-m-2\notin {\mathbb{Z}}_{\ge 0}$. Every nonzero submodule contains a singular vector by the preceding part, and the displayed coefficient shows that this is the only possible proper singular vector. Henceis the unique proper nonzero submodule, as summarized by the Reducibility of an sl2 Verma module.