Culture Shock! Austria - A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette

228 CultureShock! Austria

in German, such formality is very much in use. Du is the

informal ‘you’, and Sie the formal ‘you’. If, for example, you

were talking to an adult whom you had just met, you would

use the Sie form of ‘you’. For example:

Wo wohnen Sie? (Where do you live?)

If I knew the person well and they asked me to please use

per Du, then I would say the following instead:

Wo wohnst Du? (Where do you live?)

If you are speaking to a child or to someone you have

become friendly with, use the Du form. Some of the older

folk always expect the courtesy of Sie, even from a long-

time acquaintance. The formal Sie would also be used with

shopkeepers, your boss and the stranger on the street.

Sentence Construction

Sentence construction is one of the most difficult aspects

of learning German. The reason that it is hard to master is

that in German, the verb often ends a sentence, whereas

If you thought German was diffi cult, wait until you hear the Viennese

dialect. This sign translates as ‘Weil keine brennt gerne zu viel ‘, or

‘Because no one likes to get too burnt’.