Goethe B1 formal letter: Sie, greeting, sign-off

The situation is always everyday and always addressed to someone you'd use Sie with: a course teacher, a manager, a doctor, a landlord, a public-office employee. You need to apologise, cancel something, ask for something, or report a problem — and explain why. For example: you had an appointment with Frau Müller to discuss your learning goals, but you can't make it. Apologise politely and say why.

1. Greeting. "Sehr geehrte Frau Müller," if you know the name. "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren," if you don't. After the comma, the next line starts with a lowercase letter.
2. Reason for writing. "leider kann ich am Montag nicht zu unserem Termin kommen, …"
3. Explanation. "… weil ich einen wichtigen Termin beim Arzt habe."
4. Request or suggestion. "Könnten wir den Termin auf nächste Woche verschieben?"
5. Sign-off and signature. "Mit freundlichen Grüßen" — no comma at the end — then your first and last name on the next line.

That's enough for forty words. If you have words to spare, add one polite sentence: "Vielen Dank für Ihr Verständnis."

Sehr geehrte Frau Müller,

leider kann ich am Donnerstag nicht zu unserem Gespräch kommen, weil ich an diesem Tag einen Termin beim Arzt habe. Es tut mir sehr leid. Könnten wir das Gespräch auf nächste Woche verschieben? Vielen Dank für Ihr Verständnis.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Anna Petrova

Everything that gets checked is here: greeting, apology, reason, request, sign-off. The register stays consistent — Sie, Könnten wir, Vielen Dank. Not a word wasted.

• "du" instead of "Sie". Even once: "kannst du" instead of "könnten Sie". This is a style error, and style is part of the task-fulfilment criterion, so the grade there drops. The worst case, a letter written in the wrong register throughout, is an E on that criterion and zero for the whole task.
• "Liebe Frau Müller" / "Hallo". These are semi-formal and informal greetings; a manager, a doctor or a public office needs "Sehr geehrte".
• A capital letter after the greeting. "Sehr geehrte Frau Müller, Leider kann ich …" — after the comma the sentence continues, so the letter stays lowercase.
• "Sehr geehrte Herr Müller". For a man it's "Sehr geehrter Herr Müller".
• A comma after "Mit freundlichen Grüßen". There isn't one.
• Signing with "Anna" and no surname — or no signature at all.
• No reason given. "Ich kann nicht kommen. Mit freundlichen Grüßen" — the task asked you to explain why.
• Writing too much. Eighty words instead of forty isn't a mistake in itself, but it costs ten minutes you won't have for the other tasks.

Apologising: "Es tut mir leid, aber …", "Ich möchte mich entschuldigen, dass …", "Leider …".

Making a request: "Könnten Sie mir bitte … ?", "Ich wäre Ihnen dankbar, wenn …", "Wäre es möglich, … ?"

Cancelling and rescheduling: "Ich muss den Termin leider absagen.", "Können wir einen neuen Termin vereinbaren?"

Closing: "Vielen Dank im Voraus.", "Ich freue mich auf Ihre Antwort.", "Vielen Dank für Ihr Verständnis."

Notice "Könnten" and "Wäre" — Konjunktiv II. B1 doesn't require the full subjunctive, but these two forms are expected in requests, and they shift a letter into the right register on their own.

Two minutes to work out who you're writing to and what's being asked of you: apologise, cancel, request. Eight minutes to write the five lines above. Three minutes to check the greeting, every capitalised "Sie" form ("Ihnen", "Ihr"), and the signature. Two minutes to spare.

It's worth practising this task across several scenarios in a row: doctor, employer, course, landlord. doch! has Schreiben Teil 3 tasks with feedback across four criteria, so you can see exactly where the register slipped, even on a single word.