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Social contact
60 Greeting
The following are the most common expressions for ‘to greet’ in German:
jmdn. grüßen ‘to greet sb.’
viele Grüße/einen schönen Gruß (an jmdn.) ‘many/best wishes (to sb.)’
jmdm. einen schönen Gruß sagen ‘to give/send sb. (one’s) best wishes’
jmdm. Grüße bestellen ‘to give/send regards to sb.’
jmdm. Wünsche aus*richten ‘to convey (good) wishes to sb.’
jmdn. jmdm. empfehlen ‘to convey sb.’s respects to sb.’ (formal)
sich jmdm. empfehlen ‘to send one’s regards to sb.’ (formal)
jmd. lässt jmdn. grüßen ‘sb. sends his/her regards’
jmdn. von jmdm. grüßen ‘to pass on sb.’s good wishes’
60.1 Using du, ihr and Sie
For greeting, and indeed any interaction with Germans, it is very important that
English-speaking learners of German become familiar with the following guidelines on
the use of the familiar pronouns du (with its plural ihr) and the polite or distant Sie.
Failure to use the correct form can cause offence.
(a) Use of du and ihr
Du/ihr is used when addressing:
- relatives and close friends
- children up to about the age of 14 or 15
- fellow pupils and students
- colleagues in manual or blue-collar jobs
- animals, objects and God
(b) Use of Sie
Sie is used in all other circumstances, of which the following should be particularly
noted:
- with adults who are strangers
- with colleagues in non-blue-collar jobs (often even after years of working
together)