Writing in German: Text Types, Register and Accuracy
What this domain tests
The writing section asks you to produce a text of a specified type - email, letter, diary entry, article, report, speech or review - for a specified audience and purpose. You are assessed on communication of ideas, range of vocabulary and structures, and grammatical accuracy.
Concepts to master
- Conventions of each text type: greetings and closings (Liebe Anna, Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, Mit freundlichen Grüßen), headings for articles, date for diary entries.
- Register: du for friends and family, Sie for formal contexts, with matching possessives (dein, Ihr).
- A repertoire of structures to show range: subordinate clauses, relative clauses, passive, subjunctive, comparatives, infinitive constructions with um ... zu and statt ... zu.
- Cohesion: connectors such as zunächst, außerdem, dennoch, zum Schluss.
- Accurate verb placement, case after prepositions, and adjective endings.
Traps in questions
A common trap is ignoring the bullet points in the prompt; each point must be addressed. Another is register mismatch: starting with Liebe and finishing with Mit freundlichen Grüßen. Students also lose marks by writing far more than required and making more errors, or by writing too little and losing content marks. Watch adjective endings after ein, kein and possessives, and remember that wegen takes the genitive and mit the dative.
Worked example
Task: write an email to a friend inviting them to a weekend trip, giving two reasons and asking a question. Model opening: Liebe Lena, wie geht es dir? Ich schreibe dir, weil ich am Wochenende nach Heidelberg fahren möchte und ich dachte, dass du vielleicht Lust hättest, mitzukommen. Note the weil clause with verb final, the subjunctive hättest, and the separable mitkommen. Close with Viele Grüße and your name.
Rule of thumb
Plan for two minutes: note the text type, the audience, and one idea per bullet point. Then write short, correct sentences, and reserve three minutes to check verb endings, cases and capitalisation of nouns.