This question also has an answer here (in German):
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 it true? At least it seemed odd at the time.
Would you use it in chat/email exchange as well?
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 personal pronouns.
And finally, be consistent:
If you use "ihr" to adress more than one person informally, do not capitalise "ihr".
Note that it seems the Duden (though I don't have one handy to check) doesn't distinguish between the sort of text, but rather the nature of the relationship between the corresponding parties. I always try to categorise text as either private or public writing when I'm unsure.
Please also note that when I say personal pronouns, I am talking only about Du, Sie, and their derivations (deiner, dir, dich and Sie, Ihrer, Ihnen, and Sie respectively).
Addendum:
I didn't think this was going to be controversial. According to wikipedia, the current rules are rather straightforward:
In der Schriftsprache werden das Pronomen „Sie“ und die davon abgeleiteten Formen großgeschrieben. Bis zur Rechtschreibreform 1996 gab es auch eine Höflichkeitsform für „Du“ in der Schriftsprache, in der dieses Wort großgeschrieben wurde. Von 1996 bis 2006 wurde „du“ in neuer Rechtschreibung ausschließlich kleingeschrieben. Seit der neuesten, inzwischen vierten Revision der Rechtschreibreform kann „Du“ bei persönlicher Anrede wieder großgeschrieben werden.
— http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B6flichkeitsform (my emphasis)
Wikipedia says it was mandatory to capitalize Du in letters until 1996, then 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.
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", "Dein" usw. mit Großbuchstaben zu schreiben, egal ob in E-Mails oder auf Papier. Für mich ist das Pronomen dem Namen gleichgesetzt, und es ist einfach höflich, es großzuschreiben.
Kann natürlich sein, dass dies in Zeiten des SMS und TXT speak völlig veraltet ist. Wenn ich eine Nachricht mit "du" und "dein" erhalte, zucke ich innerlich.
Vielleicht scheiden sich hier die Geister?
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 Ihr in mail of any form. In my opinion this expresses some form of respect for the other party. So yes, by all means use it.
Chat is something else. Most people don't pay attention to capitalization of any word there (at least in the chats I have been. YMMV).
I am using this all the time, and have been for as long as I can remember. Never heard a single objection. Ever.
d for Du, Dir, etc, but then when I began working at the university here, everybody used a capital D, and basically told me that capitalising Du, Dir, etc is the norm.
Commented
May 25, 2011 at 10:27
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 the case with most germans.
Personally, I must say that I have never understood why one would have a different capitalisation depending on the form of the text. Why should ‘Du’ be capitalised in a letter but not, say, in a dialogue of a novel? If it is considered a thing of respect then why wouldn’t the characters in a book be respectful to each other as well?
It is easy with ‘Sie’, of course: The word is capitalised every time it is used. It does not depend on context or whether it was written down using a pencil or a computer keyboard. It conveys its respectful meaning everywhere.
(That is, if the capital ‘S’ really is the sign of respectfulness and not simply a sign which says ‘I’m really not the third person plural “sie” but the version of it which describes a second person (singular or plural) but which looks and inflects just like the third person plural pronoun.’ – This argumentation might be more obvious if one thinks of the Pluralis Majestatis which attaches a singular meaning to plural form pronouns by – exactly – capitalising its initial letter. Obviously, following that argumentation makes no sense for the inherently singular ‘du’.)
So, if anybody wants to use ‘Du’ with a capital ‘D’, I think the writer should be consequent enough to really use it universally. (Of course, I do not know a single book where someone has followed this argumentation, so it is rather unorthodox.)
I also learned it several decades ago (in elementary school). I still use it, even in e-mails. But it is probably mostly a matter of taste, respect, and convenience.
