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A coworker (whose native language is not English) asked me to "mild" a letter. He meant to "soften" or "tone down" the message.

There really isn't such a construct in English. But is it true that in German, "mildern" means to make "mild," in the sense that the co-worker meant? That means is there a verb form of the adjective mild?

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    Ich würde eher abmildern verwenden.
    – knut
    Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 18:31
  • But just to mention another alternative: abschwächen
    – Em1
    Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 20:07
  • The English word MILDEN means to make mild or milder. But as another respondent already replied, one would probably say "soften the tone of" in this case.
    – user1528
    Commented Apr 23, 2012 at 22:13
  • A suitable English synonym could be 'to mollify', depending on context.
    – user15067
    Commented Feb 24, 2015 at 3:54

3 Answers 3

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In case of a letter that may be a little too harsh or strongly worded there is a German equivalent:

In seinem Schreiben übte er scharfe Kritik an den gestrigen Beschlüssen.

Therefore a quite common verb for "tone down" or "softening" of a message would be:

"Können Sie Ihr Schreiben bitte ein wenig entschärfen?"

In case of a single argument we may also use "abschwächen", or "mildern".

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  • How peculiar. Not knowing very much of the language, I would have read your suggestion as sharpen in English. This makes the word sound like the precise opposite of the actual meaning.
    – Tom W
    Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 20:39
  • @TomW: "ENT"scharfen means roughly to UNsharpen, or "take away" the sharpness.
    – Tom Au
    Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 20:45
  • @Tom Au: I suppose that's probably fairly obvious to a competent speaker. Its similarity to the English 'en-', typically meaning 'do something to' (eg 'enliven') threw me.
    – Tom W
    Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 20:52
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I would use abmildern: You could say Bitte mildere den Brief etwas ab or Du könntest den Brief abmildern.

You may also use abschwächen.

If the letter was very rude, you may also say Bitte mäßige dich im Ton. This would be a not so friendly and crude remark.

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  • mäßigen is auch gut :9
    – Em1
    Commented Apr 6, 2012 at 21:02
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In this case abschwächen or entschärfen would be a better choice, but you are right: To make something more mild is mildern or abmildern in German. But it is rarely used.

** abmildern**

Ich mildere etwas ab.
Du milderst etwas ab.
Er/sie/es mildert etwas ab.
Wir mildern etwas ab.
Ihr mildert etwas ab.
Sie mildern etwas ab.

Ich habe etwas abgemildert.
Ich milderte etwas ab.
Ich werde etwas abmildern.

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