0Writing a letter, postcard or an email is a part of any CEFR Certification. This post is about the basic letter writing requirements for German as a foreign language as well as for high school students who have German as their second/third language.
The letters can be formal, informal and semi formal. Other lessons of this series will cover that, but this first lesson will introduce you to the structure of a German letter.
The following image shows some important things to remember:
Pay close attention to the characters in red.
An exclaimation point indicates the end of the sentence, hence the sentence thereafter starts with a capital letter. However, in German letter writing, a comma indicates that we still are continuing the same sentence and hence the first letter of the letter does NOT start with a capital letter. This the the biggest difference between letter writing in German and English.
Here's an excellent example of an informal letter with structure. Source - Toms Deutschseite
Writing place and date at both the CEFR Exams is optional. As for school exams, it is better to confirm with your German Teacher. Some Indian Boards may require you to write it, some will not.
Formal letters are not as long and elaborate as this share example, still, it is good to know its structure. Source - Toms Deutschseite
These days, for the CEFR Exams, writing the address is not an expectation.
The next lesson will cover the salutations.
