If addressing two people it is usual to repeat the ‘Dear’:
Lieber Paul, lieber Harald/Liebe Elke und lieber Paul
Dear Paul and Harald/Dear Elke and Paul
To address a whole family, simply write:
Liebe Familie Huber
Dear Huber family
If the addressees are close friends or relatives, Ihr Lieben ‘Dear All’ could be used.
A comma will usually follow all these openings and the letter proper will begin with a
small letter (unless the first word is a noun). It is accepted practice not to begin a letter
with ich.
60.8 Postcard greetings
The following formulations might be used either to begin or end a postcard message:
Einen schönen Gruß aus München (von/schickt dir Harald).
Best wishes from Munich (from Harald).
Grüße/Herzliche Grüße/Liebe Grüße aus dem Schwarzwald.
Greetings/warmest greetings/good wishes from the Black Forest.
60.9 Compliments
A compliments slip (-r Empfehlungszettel) will normally bear the words:
mit den besten Empfehlungen
with (the) compliments
This will be followed by the person’s title, e.g. vom Direktor ‘of the Director’. Some
business cards (-e Visitenkarte) will have the same wording.
61 Making introductions
Introductions can be expressed as follows:
sich vor*stellen ‘to introduce oneself ’
jmdn. jmdm. vor*stellen ‘to introduce sb. to sb.’
jmdn. kennen*lernen ‘to be introduced to/get to know sb.’
jmdn. mit jmdm. bekannt machen ‘to introduce sb. to sb.’
mit jmdm. bekannt sein ‘to know/be acquainted with sb.’
jmds. Bekanntschaft machen ‘to make sb.’s acquaintance’ (formal)
das ist/sind... ‘this is/here are... ’
jmdn. kennen ‘to know sb.’
sich (= acc.) kennen ‘to know each other’
heißen ‘to be called’
jmdm. begegnen ‘to meet sb.’
61
Introductions