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I’m looking for a heartfelt way to close a condolence letter to my grandmother-in-law after the recent death of her husband.

The standard German closing mit lieben Grüßen seems too casual for this situation.

In English, I’d say something like with all my heart or from the bottom of my heart to emphasize my sincerity. It’s a bit kitschy, but I think it gets the feeling across.

Can I say aus tiefstem Herzen in German? Or is there a better way to express this?

The whole letter would be something like:

Liebe Oma,

… details …

Mein herzliches Beileid. Meine Gedanken sind bei euch.

Aus tiefstem Herzen,

Cecilia

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    Edited for grammar (aus tiefstem Herzen). Also, consider using Euch (i.e., uppercase letter). Your version is not wrong, but the uppercase is still favored by the older generation.
    – Ingmar
    Commented May 14, 2015 at 16:00
  • Although that only applies if there is somebody living with your grandmother-in-law who could also be addressed with the euch. If she only lived with her husband (thus is living alone now), consider using dir or Dir instead.
    – Jan
    Commented May 14, 2015 at 16:16
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    @Jan My mother-in-law is also living there.
    – 2cents
    Commented May 14, 2015 at 16:17
  • Then it’s better to use euch/Euch, true.
    – Jan
    Commented May 14, 2015 at 16:18

1 Answer 1

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Why not?

You are writing a personal, heartfelt letter, so feel free to use personal, heartfelt words.

If you were writing a formal letter sticking to formalized greeting would be advisable (find posts on this subject here and here (thanks, @chirlu)), for personal use, these rules are rather loose – especially in special circumstances. Writing the infamous mit freundlichen Grüßen would – to my ears – sound odd.

As it stands, I see nothing wrong with your suggestion.
Consider capitalizing Euch, though. It’s optional for du/Du and euch/Euch nowadays, but elder people will have learned that in letters capitalizing personal pronouns is mandatory.

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