{"id":1955,"date":"2011-04-20T10:56:35","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T10:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=1955"},"modified":"2014-07-04T20:28:41","modified_gmt":"2014-07-04T20:28:41","slug":"writing-a-letter-in-german-informal-letters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/writing-a-letter-in-german-informal-letters\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing a Letter in German: Informal Letters"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of my previous posts I told you how to write a formal letter in German. Now, I want to continue with how to write an informal letter in German<\/em>. Whereas there are rather strict guidelines for writing formal letters, there is more ample scope for you for writing informal letters.<\/p>\n

\n

The address of the recipient and your address:<\/strong><\/p>\n

When writing an informal letter in German it is not necessary to put your and the recipient\u2019s address on the letter. It is sufficient to put the addresses on the Briefumschlag<\/em> (envelope). The sender\u2019s address<\/strong><\/span> is put at the top left of the envelope, and the recipient\u2019s address<\/strong><\/span> is put in the lower right half of the envelope.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Date:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The date includes the city name and is put at the top right of you letter. The date is always arranged in the same order: day\/month\/year. You can write the date in digits or you can also spell the month in full. For example:<\/p>\n

20.04.2011<\/p>\n

20. April 2011.<\/p>\n

The most important thing here is that you separate day, month and year with dots<\/strong>! No dashes (–<\/strong>) or slashes (\/<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\n

Salutation:<\/strong><\/p>\n

How you address the recipient, depends on the relationship you have with him or her, and the intention of your letter. When you are writing to an acquaintance or (close) friend, the most common and natural salutation is:<\/p>\n

Hallo Sara\/Michael \u2013 Hello Sara\/Michael<\/p>\n

When you have a rather close relationship to the addressee, you can use the salutation Liebe<\/em> or Lieber<\/em>. Here it is important to consider the gender or sex of the person you are writing to.<\/p>\n

Lieber Michael<\/span> \u2013 Dear Michael (m)<\/span><\/p>\n

Liebe Sara <\/span>\u2013 Dear Sara (f)<\/span><\/p>\n

When you want to write a love letter, you can use salutations like:<\/p>\n

Mein lieber Schatz \u2026 \u2013 My dear Honey \u2026<\/p>\n

Hallo mein Liebling \u2026 \u2013 Hello my darling \u2026<\/p>\n

If you like you can add the name of your love to the salutations above. Here, there are no different forms for the different genders or sexes.<\/p>\n

When you want to address the recipient of your love letter with something like \u201choney\u201d or \u201csweetie\u201d, you again have to consider whether the person you are writing is male or female.<\/p>\n

Hallo meine S\u00fc\u00dfe<\/span> \u2013 Hello honey pie (f)<\/span><\/p>\n

Hallo mein S\u00fc\u00dfer <\/span>\u2013 Hello sweetie (m)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Greetings:<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a variety of greeting you can use for your ending. The most common and natural greetings are:<\/p>\n

Viele Gr\u00fc\u00dfe \u2013 \u2018Lots of regards\u2019<\/p>\n

Liebe Gr\u00fc\u00dfe \u2013 Lots of Love<\/p>\n

When you have a close friendship with the person you are writing to, then you can use one of the following:<\/p>\n

Alles Liebe \u2013 Love; much love<\/p>\n

Dein <\/span>… \u2013 your … (m)<\/span><\/p>\n

Deine<\/span> … \u2013 your (f)<\/span><\/p>\n

When you want to greet your boyfriend or girlfriend, you can use this:<\/p>\n

In Liebe \u2013 (with) all my love<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example Letter:<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Frankfurt, den 20. April 2011<\/p>\n

\n

Hallo Tine,<\/p>\n

der Wochenendausflug mit Dir an der Ostsee war wundersch\u00f6n. Wir hatten wirklich Gl\u00fcck gehabt mit dem Wetter: 20 Grad Celsius und viel Sonne, und das schon im April. Den ganzen Tag in der Sonne liegen und einfach mal die Seele baumeln lassen, beim nichts tun. Ich hatte schon lange nicht mehr so viel Spa\u00df gehabt. Ich hoffe, wir finden bald wieder mal Zeit f\u00fcr so ein Wochenende.<\/p>\n

Liebe Gr\u00fc\u00dfe,<\/p>\n

Sandra<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Names of the months:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Januar \u2013 January<\/p>\n

Februar \u2013 February<\/p>\n

M\u00e4rz \u2013 March<\/p>\n

April \u2013 April<\/p>\n

Mai- May<\/p>\n

Juni \u2013 June<\/p>\n

Juli \u2013 July<\/p>\n

August \u2013 August<\/p>\n

September \u2013 September<\/p>\n

Oktober \u2013 October<\/p>\n

November – November<\/p>\n

Dezember – December<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

In one of my previous posts I told you how to write a formal letter in German. Now, I want to continue with how to write an informal letter in German. Whereas there are rather strict guidelines for writing formal letters, there is more ample scope for you for writing informal letters. The address of…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":1956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1955","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1955"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5189,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1955\/revisions\/5189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}