Informal Email Openings & Closings

Why Informal Email Conventions Matter for the Goethe Exam

The informal email is the first writing task in the Goethe A2 and B1 exams (Teil 1). While the content — addressing all required points — carries the most weight, getting the email format right contributes to your communicative design score. An email that starts with the right greeting, opens with a warm reaction, and closes with an appropriate sign-off reads naturally and professionally.

More importantly, using the wrong conventions — such as a formal greeting (Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren) in an informal email — is a register error that examiners penalize. The Goethe exam tests whether you know the difference between informal and formal German correspondence, and the greeting and closing are the most visible indicators.

Choosing the Right Greeting

Lieber [Name], (for male friends) and Liebe [Name], (for female friends) are the standard informal greetings for the Goethe exam. They are warm, personal, and always appropriate for emails to friends. Note the gender agreement: Lieber (masculine) vs Liebe (feminine).

Hallo [Name], is slightly more casual and equally acceptable in the exam. It works regardless of gender and is a safe default if you are unsure.

Hi [Name], is very casual and borrowed from English. While not wrong, it shows less German vocabulary than Lieber/Liebe or Hallo. Use it only if the email context is extremely casual.

Never use Sehr geehrte/r in an informal email. This is a formal greeting reserved for business letters and official correspondence.

After the greeting, always place a comma, then start a new line. The first word after the greeting continues in lowercase (unless it is a noun or Ich).

Opening Your Informal Email

The first sentence after the greeting should react to the friend's message. This is a communicative convention that examiners look for:

Vielen Dank für deine E-Mail! Ich habe mich sehr darüber gefreut. (Thank you for your email! I was very happy about it.) Schön, dass du mir geschrieben hast! (Nice that you wrote to me!) Ich habe gerade deine Nachricht gelesen und möchte dir sofort antworten. (I just read your message and want to reply right away.) Das sind ja tolle Neuigkeiten! (That's great news!) — when reacting to good news. Oh nein, das tut mir leid zu hören. (Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that.) — when reacting to bad news.

Jumping straight into content points without any reaction feels robotic and costs communicative design points.

Closing Your Informal Email

Before the sign-off, include a forward-looking sentence:

Ich freue mich, bald von dir zu hören! (I look forward to hearing from you soon!) Schreib mir, wenn du mehr weißt. (Write to me when you know more.) Lass uns nächste Woche treffen! (Let's meet next week!) Ich hoffe, es geht dir gut. Bis bald! (I hope you're doing well. See you soon!)

Then use your sign-off on a new line, followed by your name:

Liebe Grüße [Name]

or

Viele Grüße [Name]

Never use Mit freundlichen Grüßen in an informal email — this is exclusively formal.

The Difference Between Informal and Formal Conventions

Element	Informal Email	Formal Letter
Greeting	Lieber/Liebe [Name], Hallo	Sehr geehrte/r...
Pronoun	du/dein	Sie/Ihr
Tone	Warm, personal, emotional	Professional, objective
Closing	Liebe Grüße, Viele Grüße	Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Reactions	Toll! Super! Schade!	(avoided)

The Goethe exam explicitly tests whether you can switch between these registers. In B1, Teil 1 is informal and Teil 3 is formal — both in the same exam session.

Common Informal Email Mistakes

Missing the greeting entirely: Starting with the content directly. Always include Lieber/Liebe [Name], or Hallo [Name],.

Using Sie in an informal email: Writing Könnten Sie mir bitte sagen... to a friend. Use du: Kannst du mir sagen...

Forgetting to react to the friend's message: The first content point in most prompts is to react to what the friend wrote. A reaction sentence scores under both task fulfillment and communicative design.

Using Mit freundlichen Grüßen: This formal closing in an informal email is a clear register error.

No sign-off at all: Ending the email with your last content point and no closing is structurally incomplete.

Practice Informal Emails on Deutsch Fox

On deutschfox.com, every B1 Teil 1 practice task requires proper informal email conventions. The AI examiner checks your greeting, opening reaction, tone consistency, and closing for register appropriateness. It flags register mixing (formal language in an informal email) and structural omissions (missing greeting or sign-off). The error memory feature tracks your email convention patterns across practice sessions.