Genau
Topic test · B1

Formal letter in German test

10questions
8minutes
60%pass mark
Start the test Read the topic first

One question at a time, the clock runs. Answers stay closed like a real exam: you see every correct answer with its explanation at the end. Score 60% to finish the topic.

Topic test

10 questions, easy to hard

Pick an option and press «Next». You can go back and change it. Anything left blank counts as wrong.

You are writing a formal e-mail to an official whose name you don’t know. Which greeting is right?

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, — the only safe greeting for someone whose name you don’t know, with a comma at the end. Hallo zusammen is an everyday hello to a group; a greeting that starts with Liebe … is for people you know and is not used in a first formal letter.

Which subject line (Betreff) is written correctly?

Beschwerde über den Lärm — a subject line is written like a headline: no verb, no full stop. If you write a sentence, the subject line turns into the first sentence of the letter.

Build the sentence: I’m writing to you because the heating isn’t working.

Tap the pieces to build the sentence

Ich schreibe Ihnen, weil die Heizung nicht funktioniert. The pattern of box 3. weil opens a subordinate clause and the conjugated verb (funktioniert) goes to the very end. In the letter it follows the greeting, so it starts with a lower-case letter: ich schreibe Ihnen, weil …

Which line is written correctly?

After the greeting comes a comma and the sentence counts as still going, so the next word starts with a lower-case letter. A full stop after the greeting is a mistake, and so is a capital letter after the comma.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen, — In a formal letter in German, a comma is put after the closing line.

False. The Mit freundlichen Grüßen line takes no punctuation; your name goes on the line below. The comma comes from the English habit of “Kind regards,”.

Ich bitte um eine schnelle Antwort.

I ask you for a quick reply.

Sie — capitalised, it is “you”. A small sie means “they/them” or “she”; the sentence goes to somebody else. dich is a form of du and never appears in a formal letter.

Ich Ihnen dankbar, wenn Sie mir bis zum 30. August antworten könnten.

I would be grateful if you could reply by 30 August.

wäre — Konjunktiv II. It takes the request one step back and softens it. war is the past tense; würde needs an infinitive with it (würde … sein) and would be left incomplete here.

Ich bitte Sie, die Heizung bis zum 30. August reparieren.

I ask you to repair the heating by 30 August.

zu. The pattern Ich bitte Sie, … zu … needs a zu-infinitive: the verb goes to the end with zu in front of it. With a separable verb it slips into the middle: zurückzuzahlen.

An exam task has four points. Which strategy earns more marks?

The first criterion of marking is fulfilling the task: was every point answered? A skipped point is hard to make up for, even with the most beautiful sentence. Number the points before you write.

The task says Machen Sie einen Vorschlag. Which sentence covers this point?

Könnten wir den Termin auf Freitag verschieben? Vorschlag = suggestion: you have to offer a concrete alternative. The second option only gives a reason (a different point), the third is only the closing.
Quick rules

The rules in three lines

The full topic lives on its own page. This is only the core you need for the test.

  1. Six boxes, fixed order

    Betreff → Anrede → Grund → Problem → Forderung → Gruß. Five are the same in every letter; the places you have to think are the problem and the request.

    Beschwerde über die Heizung

  2. Comma after the greeting, then lower-case

    The greeting ends with a comma and the sentence goes on; the next word starts with a lower-case letter — unless it is a noun or Sie.

    Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, ich schreibe Ihnen, weil …

  3. No comma after the closing, Sie always capitalised

    Mit freundlichen Grüßen takes no punctuation. Sie · Ihnen · Ihr are always capitalised in a formal letter.

    Ich bitte Sie um eine Antwort.

  4. The request: clear, polite and with a deadline

    Write what you want, soften it with Konjunktiv II, give a date.

    Ich wäre Ihnen dankbar, wenn Sie das Problem bis zum 30. August beheben könnten.

Traps

Commonly mixed up

Where a direct translation breaks. The hard questions come from here.

  • Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, Ich schreibe Ihnen, weil …

    Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, ich schreibe Ihnen, weil …

    After the greeting there is a comma and the sentence has not ended: the next word starts with a lower-case letter.

  • Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

    Mit freundlichen Grüßen

    The closing line takes no punctuation; your name goes on the line below.

  • Ich bitte sie um eine schnelle Antwort.

    Ich bitte Sie um eine schnelle Antwort.

    A small sie means “they”; “you” is always a capital Sie.

  • Ich möchte mich über den Lärm beschweren.

    Beschwerde über den Lärm

    A subject line has no verb and no full stop; it is written like a headline.

  • Ich will eine Antwort.

    Ich wäre Ihnen dankbar, wenn Sie mir antworten könnten.

    Politeness comes not from a word but from the mood: Konjunktiv II softens the request.