The letter tag has no wiki summary.
26
votes
8answers
1k views
Is it still good form to use a capital D for Du or Dir in a letter?
I was taught (several decades ago) to write a capital D for all pronouns such as Du, Dir, Deine, when writing to my German penpals.
I am afraid it would look antiquated or very formal these days. Is ...
15
votes
6answers
1k views
In what context do we write “Guten Tag” rather than “Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren”?
Formal letters almost always used to start with "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren," or "Sehr geehrter Herr Maier" if the person is known. However more and more we see formal correspondence that addresses ...
14
votes
2answers
490 views
“[Ort], der [Datum]” oder “Ort, den [Datum]”?
Wenn man in einem Schriftstück den Ort und das Datum schreibt, dann kenne ich das so:
[Ort], den [Datum]
also z.B.:
Karlsruhe, den 29. Juli 2012
Warum schreibt man den? Warum nicht der wie in Es ...
10
votes
1answer
309 views
German story to reduction of alphabet
I remember having read a short story about the reduction of the (German) alphabet some years ago. The story is very short (only a few pages), but the interesting thing about it was that during the ...
9
votes
3answers
197 views
What caused “ss” to gain popularity over “ß” in the 19th century?
From Google Books' Ngram Viewer:
Notice that the "hasst" form gained popularity towards the end of the 19th century, only to drop again in favor of "haßt" later on. I noticed the same pattern on ...
2
votes
1answer
286 views
How to properly address “Graf zu”?
Here is a simple question from a person with a limited knowledge in German.
Currently I'm writing a letter to a person who has a title of "Graf zu" someplace. Now how would you properly address him? ...
2
votes
2answers
25 views
“Lieber, sehr geehrter Herr X”: wie antworten?
Folgende Situation:
Sie kontaktieren Firma A in einer geschäftlichen Angelegenheit. Der Telefonanruf wird an Frau B duchgestellt, gemeinsam mit ihrem Ehemann geschäftsführende Gesellschafterin des ...
