When to use it
Use it to ask a teacher or a colleague for help before writing an official letter.
The sentence in English (“How do you write a formal letter in French?”)
"How do you write a formal letter in French?" uses a general "you" and "in" for the language.
- How
- adverbquestion word asking about the way or manner
- do
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: present · auxiliary that makes the question
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun used for people in general
- write
- verbwrite · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "do you"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- formal
- adjectiveadjective
- letter
- nounnoun
- in
- prepositionpreposition
- French
- nounnoun; the name of the language, always capitalised
The sentence in German (“Wie schreibt man einen formellen Brief auf Französisch?”)
"Wie schreibt man einen formellen Brief auf Französisch?" uses "man" and "auf" for the language. "Einen formellen" shows the masculine accusative.
- Wie
- adverb"how"
- schreibt
- verbschreiben · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: third · number: singular · "writes"
- man
- pronounimpersonal: "one", "you" in general
- einen
- determinerindefinite article, masculine accusative: "a"
- formellen
- adjective"formal", accusative ending -en
- Brief
- nounmasculine noun: "letter"
- auf
- preposition"in" with languages: "auf Französisch"
- Französisch
- nounneuter noun: the French language, with a capital letter
What changes from one language to the other (English × German)
English writes "in French"; German writes "auf Französisch". Both capitalize the language name, but in German it is a noun, as every noun is.
Example conversation
— Wie schreibt man einen formellen Brief auf Französisch?
— How do you write a formal letter in French?
— Beginnen Sie mit „Madame, Monsieur“.
— Start with "Madame, Monsieur".