Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 November 20

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November 20[edit]

Starting an e-mail in Danish[edit]

Hello. What would be the best way to start an e-mail to a Danish person who is a good acquaintance, but not a friend? On the one hand, I've heard that Danes don't like "Dear X..." if they're not your friends, but on the other hand I've also heard they don't like excessively polite or humble formulas. What would be a good way of saying "Dear X, I hope you are well"? Tak. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.48.118.6 (talk) 13:04, 20 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Kære X, the literal equivalent of Dear X, is called here a formal way of opening a letter, so this will probably be found acceptable. Wiktionary also writes that this is used in the beginning of addresses, e.g. Kære Jacob... "Dear Jacob..."  --Lambiam 18:12, 20 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
A less formal start is Hej (Hej Jacob, ... = "Hello Jacob", ...)  --Lambiam