Sample of how to begin a formal letter in German.

Rules for writing a formal German letter

The following are examples for formal greeting lines when composing a letter in
German:

• Guten Tag Herr Mustermann, – Good day Mr. Mustermann

• Sehr geehrter Herr Professor Doktor Brecht, – Dear Professor Doctor

Brecht – note that the title comes after gender-specific noun and before

the actual name

• Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident, – Dear Mister President

• Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, – Dear Sir/Madam – note that the

German is actually plural and is the equivalent of “To whom it may

concern”
 • Liebe Frau Treibholz, – Dear Mrs. Treibholz – less formal but still very

polite
Depending on the subject of your letter, you might open with one of the
following lines:

• ich schreibe Ihnen weil… – I’m writing to you because…

• ich nehme Bezug auf Ihr Schreiben vom… – I’m referring to your letter

dated…

• ich habe folgendes Anliegen: – I have the following request:

To formally conclude a letter in German, you can use one of these salutations:

• Mit freundlichen Grüßen – Sincerely yours – literally “with friendly

salutations”
• Ich freue mich auf Ihre Antwort – I look forward to your reply

• Ich danke Ihnen für Ihre Aufmerksamkeit und verbleibe mit

freundlichen Grüßen – I thank you for your attention and remain

with kind regards

Rules for writing an informal German letter

Depending on how informal your relationship to the recipient actually is, there
are hardly any rules you need to follow when composing a letter to a German
friend. You can include the entire letterhead as you would for a formal letter,
though you’d probably leave out a subject line.
Yet it’s more common to just include the place and date to let the addressee
know when and whence you’re writing. After that, you can launch right into any
type of informal greeting you prefer:

• Liebe Frau Müller, – Dear Ms. Müller

• Lieber Andreas, – Dear Andreas

• Hallo, – Hello

• Hallo Martin, – Hello Martin

• Hallo mein Lieber, / Hallo meine Liebe, – Hello my love

Don’t forget that adjectives or nouns need to correspond properly to the gender
of the recipient. Same as with a formal letter, the first line is not capitalised.
To close your letter informally in German, you can sign off any way you like. Final
salutations are often warm and intimate in German and express best wishes:

• Herzlichst – Cordially

• Viele Grüße – Best regards

• Liebe Grüße / Viele liebe Grüße – Lots of love

• Alles Liebe – Lots of love

• Beste Wünsche – Best wishes

• Dein – Yours, male version

• Deine – Yours, female version

• In Liebe – With love–reserve that one for your significant other!