german_sentence_builder

In the text of the letter, it used to be the custom to capitalize the informal pronouns for you
(du, dich, dein, ihr, euch, and euer). This is no longer the case, but you will still occasionally see
the capitalized forms in letters written by someone from an older generation or by someone not
accepting of the new rules of writing (die neue Rechtschreibung).
There are three basic ways of closing an informal letter:
Herzliche Grüße
Mit herzlichen Grüßen
Alles Liebe
Yours (truly)
Yours truly, Kind regards
With love, All my love
It is common to follow these kinds of informal closings with dein or deine and your first name.
In a formal letter that is not necessarily a business letter, the salutation Lieber/Liebe can be
used with the title and last name of the person to whom you are writing:
Lieber Herr Benz
Liebe Frau Schmidt
If you are writing to a company, its name and address appear at the top left of the page. Just
below that address, you can add a brief statement that describes the purpose of your letter:
Verkehrsverein Köln e. V.
Bahnhofstr. 18
56011 Köln
Hotels in Köln
In this kind of business letter, a more formal salutation is required. Note that different adjective
endings are needed for the masculine and feminine:
Sehr geehrter Herr Keller
Sehr geehrte Frau Professor
Sehr geehrter Herr Doktor Hauser (academic)
Sehr geehrte Frau Doktor (physician)
In the first example above, the last name of the party being addressed is included, because the
only title used is Herr. But if the person holds an additional title (as in the second example), the
title and not the last name is used in a formal salutation. There is, however, an exception: If the last
name is included with the title Doktor, this implies that the doctor being addressed is an academic
and not a physician. If the party being addressed is a physician, the doctor’s name is not
included.
It is possible to use the formal salutation with a plural:
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren
Dear Sir or Madam / Ladies and Gentlemen
In formal letters, the pronoun for you is Sie, and its forms are always capitalized in the text
of the letter (Ihnen and Ihr). There are three commonly used closings for a formal letter:
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Mit freundlichen Empfehlungen
Hochachtungsvoll
Yours sincerely, Yours truly
With kind regards, Yours faithfully
Yours faithfully (very formal)
It is common to place Ihr or Ihre (yours) after the closing line and just before your name, but
that is an option:
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Ihr
Thomas Keller
Letter writing 155