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You can capitalise personal pronouns, but you don't always have to: If you are speaking formally, always capitalise Sie, Ihre, and so forth. If you communicate with someone informally, you have a free choice - though capitalising personal pronouns is more polite. In general, informal text (as opposed to private correspondence), never capitalise informal ...

Wikipedia says it was mandatory to capitalize Du in letters until 1996, then the it was forbidden until 2006, now it's optional. In my experience, most people who learned to read and write before 1996 are perfectly fine with capitalizing Du in letters, it's definitely not too formal.

Im Deutschen gibt es zwei Möglichkeiten, ein Datum zu bestimmen: Mit einer Präposition, zum Beispiel am (an + dem) am Dienstag am 10. August am kommenden Sonntag am Pfingstmontag an Neujahr mit dem Akkusativ der Zeit: nächsten Samstag Berlin, den 12. Oktober kommende Woche letztes Jahr "Wir ziehen diesen Herbst nach Hamburg." Wenn zwei ...

The salutation "Guten Tag" in written communication is a more informal variation of "Sehr geehrte/r....". Both essentially say the same thing, but "Sehr geehrte/r" has been the accepted way to formally address a person for I don't know how many decades. In my personal experience, "Guten Tag" has gained traction especially in industries that cultivate a ...

This is part of the revision of the revision of German orthography. The first revision disallowed the use of a capital letter for du and ihr. The second revision allows both versions. As far as I know, Sie was never affected and is always written with a capital S. To answer the question: I know many people that wouldn't think twice over writing Du and ...

I don't know about others, but I painstakingly capitalise "Du", "Dir", "Dich", "Dein" etc, in written communication, be they paper or E-mails. For me, the personal pronoun is the equivalent of the person's name and it is a matter of respect to capitalise it. Ich weiss nicht, wie andere es halten, aber ich achte peinlich genau darauf, "Du", "Dir", "Dich", ...

In my experience you usually use "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren" to begin a correspondence, possibly when you're not entirely sure who is going to read/respond to it. As the correspondence continues, it may be adequate to switch to "Guten Tag", as it builds up some familiarity with the correspondant. It could easily be considered a little too formal to ...

Just an idea: The first typewriter started at this time. When I check the German Wikipedia for Schreibmaschine, the first German typewriter was produced 1882/83. Perhaps they used typewriter without ß before that time and used ssinstead. Since 1880 German typewriter has allowed them to use ß.

There were two spelling reforms of the German language: 1876 and 1901. That's approximately the time period of the popularity peak. At that time the German language wasn't as regulated as it is today. Konrad Duden started to harmonize the German language around 1871. Before it was more "Wild West" than typical German "standard for everything". The "s", "ß" ...

Im geschäftlichen Bereich sollte es immer „sehr geehrte/r“ sein. Wenn der Kommunikationspartner das anders sieht, ist das sein gutes Recht. Es ist aber nicht zu erwarten, dass er dieses Nichtstandardverhalten auf seine Kommunikationspartner projiziert. Man sollte also mit Sehr geehrte Frau B, antworten und im Folgenden rein sachlich bleiben. Ich ...

First, it is not correct to leave out the Herr or Frau. “Sehr geehrter Prof. X” sounds uncomplete. It is possible to leave out the academic title (Prof., Dr.), but it depends heavily on the context whether it is advisable. Generally, the need for including the Prof. increases the older and the more conservative the recipient is, the more hierarchical their ...

Adelung vs. Heyse In the "II. orthograhische Konferenz" held in 1901 it was decided to follow the rules of Adelung who wrote in his "Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart": (bb) In der Mitte einer Sylbe, wenn nach dem ss ein e weggeworfen worden, oder wenn es doch aus dem ss entstanden ist; er ißt von isset, heißt, beißt, haßt, ...

In German you traditionally wrote "Sehr geehrter Herr Graf zu XXX,...". Nowadays you can simply write "Sehr geehrter Graf zu XXX,...". And only a chauffeur or butler are supposed to use "Herr Graf" without the name. Nobility was abolished by the Weimar Republic in 1919. No new titles were to be awarded and existing titles were to be considered as part of ...

Ich gehe davon aus, daß der lieben Frau B sehr wohl klar ist, daß im geschäftlichen Verkehr die Anrede "Sehr geehrte(r) Frau/Herr ..." üblich ist. Tief in ihrer Künstlerseele erscheint ihr dies aber als zu steif, zu förmlich, zu unpersönlich. Nun gibt es zwei Möglichkeiten: Die eine ist, daß sie regelmäßig diese Mischform wählt, um so auch in einer ...

I was born in 1968. Writing "Du" or "Sie" as an Anrede in written communication in lower case looks equally wrong to me, and I would never do it. They have to be capitalized. I know that technically it is optional now, but the orthographic reform and the reform of the orthographic reform are something that felt wrong to me either. As far as I know, this is ...

I have never seen a letter (or an email) that starts with "Guten Tag". In what context have you seen this "more and more"? If a letter is more informal it will start with: Liebe Frau Müller! (Dear Mrs. Müller) or Liebe Mitreisende! (Dear travel group) If it is an informal email, you can start with "Hallo" or "Hi".