We investigate $L^{p}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE})$–$L^{q}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE})$ off-diagonal estimates for the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck semigroup $(e^{tL})_{t>0}$. For sufficiently large $t$ (quantified in terms of $p$ and $q$), these estimates hold in an unrestricted sense, while, for sufficiently small $t$, they fail when restricted to maximal admissible balls and sufficiently small annuli. Our counterexample uses Mehler kernel estimates.

Several rather general sufficient conditions for the extrapolation of the calculus of generalized Dirac operators from L2 to Lp are established. As consequences, we obtain some embedding theorems, quadratic estimates and Littlewood–Paley theorems in terms of this calculus in Lebesgue spaces. Some further generalizations, utilised in Part II devoted to applications, which include the Kato square root model, are discussed. We use resolvent approach and show the irrelevance of the semigroup one. Auxiliary results include a high order counterpart of the Hilbert identity, the derivation of new forms of ‘off-diagonal’ estimates, and the study of the structure of the model in Lebesgue spaces and its interpolation properties. In particular, some coercivity conditions for forms in Banach spaces are used as a substitution of the ellipticity ones. Attention is devoted to the relations between the properties of perturbed and unperturbed generalized Dirac operators. We do not use any stability results.