How do I address a formal letter to a married couple who are both pastors

Question

I'm not sure if I should address them individually or as a pair

Sehr geehrter Herr und Frau Schmidt or Sehr geehrte Pfarrer Schmidt

fragezeichen · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-24 17:24:18Z

4

The most common way to do this is

Sehr geehrte Frau Schmidt,
sehr geehrter Herr Schmidt,

If you don't want to specifically adress them in their capacity as pastors, I would leave the "Pfarrer" out.

answered Aug 24, 2018 at 17:24

fragezeichen

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In the past it was common to use "Hochwürden" when adressing a pastor, but today this is obsolete, much like using "Fräulein" when addressing an unmarried woman.
– RHa
Aug 24, 2018 at 18:06
I had capitalized the second sehr also. Looks much better.
– Janka
Aug 24, 2018 at 18:19
4

I agree that it looks better but it seems to be very uncommon to capitalize the second "sehr".
– fragezeichen
Aug 24, 2018 at 18:39
1

Sometimes one has to be brave …
– Janka
Aug 24, 2018 at 19:24
4

It's not very uncommon to capitalize the second "sehr", it's simply wrong. Nevertheless your answer is todays standard of adressing two people. One may only choose to write it in 1 or 2 lines.
– mtwde
Aug 24, 2018 at 21:37

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