Register & audience

Who you write to sets the register: Register is how formal or informal your German is — and it's set by who reads it and the text type. Two registers matter for Paper 1: informal, built on du/ihr (a friend, a classmate — Hallo, Liebe Grüße), and formal, built on Sie (a company, a teacher, an official — Sehr geehrte/r …, Mit freundlichen Grüßen). Choosing the right register and holding it consistently is what earns Criterion C.

das Register

the register — how formal or informal the language is

der Adressat / der Empfänger

the audience / addressee — the reader you write to

informell (du/ihr)

informal register, using du (or ihr in the plural) — for friends and peers

formell (Sie)

formal register, using Sie — for officials, teachers, companies

die Anrede

the greeting / salutation (Hallo vs Sehr geehrte/r …)

die Grußformel

the sign-off (Liebe Grüße vs Mit freundlichen Grüßen)

Ask: who is reading this?: Before writing, ask who the reader is. A friend → du (or ihr for a group); a company, teacher or stranger → Sie. Decide once, at the planning stage, and every greeting, verb and sign-off follows from it. Get this right and Criterion C is half-won.

Reader → register → markers: Match the reader to a register, and the register to its markers — the greeting, pronoun and sign-off that signal it. The table below maps the most common readers you'll meet in Paper 1.

Three readers, three registers: Freund → informell (du, Hallo, Liebe Grüße) · Firma oder Lehrer → formell (Sie, Sehr geehrte/r …, Mit freundlichen Grüßen) · Blog-Publikum → halbformell. Lock the reader to its markers and you won't drift mid-answer.

Choose once, hold throughout: The skill is not just choosing the register but holding it from first word to last. The four moves: identify the reader, choose du/ihr or Sie, match the greeting, sign-off and vocabulary, and keep it consistent throughout.

Consistency is the marked thing: Criterion C rewards a register that's consistent, not just chosen. The classic slip is opening with Sie and drifting into du by the third paragraph. Re-read your verb endings and possessives at the end to catch any drift.

The same request, two registers: Here's one request written twice — once informal (du) to a friend, once formal (Sie) to a college — so you can see the greeting, verb and possessive shift while the message stays the same. Tap Übersetzung anzeigen to see the English explanation, or 🔊 to hear the German.

Four markers move together: Notice the greeting, verb, possessive and sign-off all change together — Hallo→Sehr geehrte Frau Berg, kannst→könnten, dein→Ihr, Liebe Grüße→Mit freundlichen Grüßen. They're a set: switch all four or none. Mixing them is the fastest way to lose Criterion C.

Consistent register vs costly slips: Register marks are usually lost to mixing du and Sie, being too casual for a formal reader, or a greeting and sign-off that clash with the register. Here's the contrast.

Re-read your verb endings: The mixing error hides in verb endings and possessives — you greet with Sehr geehrte/r but write kannst and dein later. At the end, scan every verb and possessive against your chosen register. One consistent register protects Criterion C.