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I'm not sure if I should address them individually or as a pair

Sehr geehrter Herr und Frau Schmidt or Sehr geehrte Pfarrer Schmidt

user34112
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1 Answers1

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The most common way to do this is

Sehr geehrte Frau Schmidt,
sehr geehrter Herr Schmidt,

If you don't want to specifically adress them in their capacity as pastors, I would leave the "Pfarrer" out.

fragezeichen
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  • In the past it was common to use "Hochwürden" when adressing a pastor, but today this is obsolete, much like using "Fräulein" when addressing an unmarried woman. – RHa Aug 24 '18 at 18:06
  • I had capitalized the second sehr also. Looks much better. – Janka Aug 24 '18 at 18:19
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    I agree that it looks better but it seems to be very uncommon to capitalize the second "sehr". – fragezeichen Aug 24 '18 at 18:39
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    Sometimes one has to be brave … – Janka Aug 24 '18 at 19:24
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    It's not very uncommon to capitalize the second "sehr", it's simply wrong. Nevertheless your answer is todays standard of adressing two people. One may only choose to write it in 1 or 2 lines. – mtwde Aug 24 '18 at 21:37
  • Great advice. I decided to include the pastor title...Sehr geehrte Frau Pfarrerin Schmidt...sehr geehrter Herr Pfarrer Schmidt – user34112 Aug 27 '18 at 01:30