Choosing the right register

Practise choosing between formal and informal language: Sie or du, erhalten or kriegen, full sentences or short spoken forms. Think about who reads your text: a landlord, an office, a colleague or a friend.

You write to your landlord, Herr Kaiser, because the heating is broken. Which beginning fits?

A landlord: formal.

You write to a colleague you say du to. Which message fits?

Same register in the greeting and the question.

Which sentence fits a formal email?

kriegen is spoken German.

You apply for a job. How do you start the main text?

Hiermit = herewith; sich bewerben um = to apply for.

In your course everybody says Sie to the teacher, Frau Lehmann. You ask her for the homework. What do you write?

Keep the Sie form and be polite.

You write a short, friendly email to a colleague you say Sie to. Which closing fits?

Polite, but not too old-fashioned or too personal.

Which sentence fits a formal email?

Written formal German uses full sentences.

A colleague writes: „Wollen wir uns duzen?“ What does that mean?

duzen comes from du.

You write to the Bürgeramt to move an appointment. Which sentence fits?

Formal and polite.

Select all sentences that are too informal for an email to a company.

More than one answer is correct.

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