B1.1 · 26 of 33
Schreiben: Eine formelle E-Mail
Lesson · 3 rules · about 5 min
Write a real formal e-mail, and have your own AI mark it line by line.
- 1The frame carries the register
- 2Ask, do not demand
- 3Five moves, in this order
Why this matters
Your first formal text in the course. You write the e-mail here, in the box, and the app builds a correction request that carries your own text. You paste that into your own AI, it corrects what you actually wrote, and you bring the score back. The up to four fixes it gives you are saved: your next speaking and writing exercises quietly bring one or two of them back, so the same slip does not survive for long. Aim for 400 to 900 characters, roughly the length of a real complaint e-mail. Much shorter and there is nothing to correct; much longer and you are writing an essay rather than an e-mail.
Rule · 1 of 3
The frame carries the register
A formal e-mail is recognised by its frame before anyone reads the content. Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren when you do not know the name, Sehr geehrte Frau Weber when you do. Mit freundlichen Grüßen at the end, and no comma after it — the next line is your name. Sie, Ihnen and Ihr are capitalised all the way through.
- Sehr geehrte Frau Weber, ich wende mich an Sie, weil mein Kurs kurzfristig abgesagt wurde. Dear Ms Weber, I am writing to you because my course was cancelled at short notice.
- Mit freundlichen Grüßen Ana Ruiz Yours sincerely Ana Ruiz
After the greeting comes a comma and then a lower-case start: „Sehr geehrte Frau Weber,“ then „ich wende mich …“, not „Ich“.
Quick check
Which sign-off is right in a formal e-mail?
Rule · 2 of 3
Ask, do not demand
The request is where the register is won or lost. A bare imperative or a flat present tense reads as an order. Soften it with the Konjunktiv II: ich würde gern, ich hätte eine Frage, könnten Sie, wäre es möglich. The content stays exactly as firm; only the tone changes.
- Könnten Sie mir bitte mitteilen, bis wann ich mit einer Rückerstattung rechnen kann? Could you please let me know by when I can expect a refund?
- Ich würde gern wissen, ob ein Platz im nächsten Kurs frei ist. I would like to know whether there is a place free on the next course.
„Geben Sie mir mein Geld zurück“ is grammatical and will cost you the register marks. „Ich würde gern eine Rückerstattung beantragen“ asks for the same thing.
Quick check
Which is the formal way to ask?
Memory trick · 3 of 3
Five moves, in this order
Greeting. Why you are writing. What happened, with the facts and the dates. What you want. A date for the answer, then the sign-off. An e-mail that follows those five moves is hard to mark down for structure, and the structure is what the correction looks at first.
- … wurde der Kurs am 3. Oktober kurzfristig abgesagt. Ich habe die Kursgebühr bereits im September bezahlt. … the course was cancelled at short notice on 3 October. I had already paid the course fee in September.
- Über eine Antwort bis zum 20. Oktober würde ich mich freuen. I would be glad of an answer by 20 October.
Quick check
What belongs in the second move of a formal e-mail?
Listen
Play it, then pick what you heard.
Spot the mistake
Which one is right?
Spot the mistake
Which one is right?
Spot the mistake
Which one is right?
Spot the mistake
Which one is right?
Cheat sheet
What to take with you
- The frame carries the register
- Ask, do not demand
- Five moves, in this order
How to remember it
- Sehr geehrte … , then a lower-case start; Mit freundlichen Grüßen with no comma.
- Soften every request: ich würde gern, könnten Sie, wäre es möglich.
- Five moves: greeting, why, what happened, what you want, by when.
- Sie, Ihnen and Ihr are always capitalised.
A formal e-mail of this kind is the written task the B1 certificate sets, and the one letter everyone in Germany ends up writing sooner or later.
Your language course was cancelled at short notice and you have already paid. Write a formal e-mail to the school: say what happened, say what you want, and ask for an answer by a date.
- a formal greeting and a formal sign-off, with no comma after the sign-off
- say plainly what happened and when
- one polite request in the Konjunktiv II (ich würde gern, ich hätte eine Frage, könnten Sie)
- name what you want to happen: a refund, a place on the next course, or both
- ask for an answer by a date
0 of 400 characters — keep going 0 words
2 Copy the correction request
This carries your own text. Paste it into your AI assistant and it will correct what you wrote, then give you a score and a short list of fixes.
3 Open your assistant
Copy the request first (one step back), then paste it into your assistant.
4 Bring the correction back
Paste the whole report. The SCORE= line is read
automatically, and the fixes are saved as your next things to work on.
Report a problem
Exercise
Schreiben: Eine formelle E-Mail · B1.1
No single question is on screen — the report is about the whole exercise.
Reports go to the forum, where anyone can read them and the answer is kept for the next learner. To send one — and to be told when it is answered — sign in first. It takes one email, and no password.
Signing in lets us reply to your report, and shows you the answer the next time you are here. We email you a one-time link: no password, and nothing is shared with anyone.