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I want to schedule an appointment at the dentist's. Can I write something like this?

Guten Tag Herr Miller,

Ich bin verfügbar:

am Dienstag ab 11:00 – 15:00 Uhr

am Donnerstag ab 11:00 – 15:00 Uhr

am Freitag ab 11:00 – 15:00 Uhr

Bitte schlagen Sie den Termin vor.

Ich freue mich auf Ihre Antwort.

Donna Parker

My question is similar to this:https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/70879/termin-vorschlagen-außer-12-uhr-bis-13-uhr

but I want to use the different phrase.

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2 Answers 2

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Your version works and is well understandable, but a bit uncommon in a few details for this situation:

a) it's much more common to phrase it like "Ich hätte Zeit:". If you make an appointment with the dentist you are not doing them a favour, but vice versa. As such "zur Verfügung stehen" does not quite fit here IMHO - it fits better when you offer your time for a service to someone else, thus when you quote your availability to a client, but not when you are the client yourself.

b) I'd leave out the "ab" in the time span you are available. It is either

Donnerstag ab 11 Uhr (without any ending specified, but possibly implied by context)
Donnerstag von 11 bis 16 Uhr
Donnerstag 11 - 16 Uhr

c) You ask the person to suggest an appointment. It sounds a bit strange to my ears to ask for the appointment. Rather ask:

Bitte schlagen Sie einen Termin vor

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    Donnerstag ab 11h? What's "h" here? Is it a shorter form of a word "Uhr"?
    – Codewife_101
    Oct 24, 2022 at 14:47
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    yes, "Uhr" is also often abbreviated in these situations by "h" - usually durations, though. Whether you want to add the minutes is also a matter of taste and mostly of needed accuracy. Your way to note the time is by no means worse or less common than mine - actually yours probably is better :) see fehler-haft.de/wissen/uhrzeit.html
    – planetmaker
    Oct 24, 2022 at 14:59
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The canonical way is to write

Ich habe am Dienstag von 11:00 Uhr bis 15:00 Uhr, am Donnerstag ab 11:00 Uhr bis 15:00 Uhr, und am Freitag von 11:00 Uhr bis 15:00 Uhr Zeit.

or shorter

Ich habe am Dienstag, Donnerstag und Freitag jeweils von 11:00 Uhr bis 15:00 Uhr Zeit.

if the time of day is the same on all days. You can reorder it as Ich habe Zeit am … though it doesn't sound as natural.

And you may want to add the timezone. UTC+-xxx values are easier to decode than shortcuts as MST.

Don't put it as verfügbar. That's only good for tools and materials and thus self-degrading.

über etwas verfügen — to possess something, to rule over something

über jemanden verfügen — to rule over someone as if they were a tool

Especially women are called verfügbar when they are open for sex with anyone. I'm not really sure if that's an euphemism.

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    Your comments about "verfügbar" and especially women being open for sex is absolute nonsense. The term is used commonly when scheduling meetings, appointments and the like.
    – bakunin
    Oct 26, 2022 at 7:48
  • And it gives me shivers each time.
    – Janka
    Oct 26, 2022 at 11:48
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    That may be - but language is, what people use. Rules of language are an afterthought. i.e. we used to write "Athem" and now write "Atem" - but still write "Thor" and not "Tor". We also wrote "Photograph" and now write "Fotograf" but still use "Graph" when we talk about the mathematical construct, not "Graf". You may find that "new" way whatever you want: wrong, annoying, inconsistent, ... - fact is, people use it and if you deviate too much from that you won't be (easily) understood.
    – bakunin
    Oct 27, 2022 at 11:55

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