Thread: Letter Salutation

If I am writing someone as letter -- the family Ivanov for instance, what is the proper open the letter -- and what case would you use for the recipient.
Would I use datative case for the first part and genitive for the family name (Дорогой семье Иванова)?

I believe the Ivanov family is just Ивановы (lit. The Ivanovs)

If you say "Dear Ivanovs/Ivanov Family", it is a vocative (an address) phrase, as it is in English. Therefore you use the nominative.

Дорогие Ивановы,

To the Ivanovs, is dative because the word To is there: Ивановым {dat. plu.}

So i think you'd start it either:

Дорогие Ивановы

or

Ивановым

You are right about the cases but the family name should be in the plural form. Дорогой семье Ивановых(genitive from Ивановы). Your variant is grammatically correct but it wouldn't be used in most cases.
Edit: Tatu is right too. When starting the letter nominative is the most common.

I think, it's much better to start the letter like this:

Дорогие Иван Иванович, Мария Ивановна и, конечно, остальные члены семьи!

You are not supposed to address pepple by their last names, unless some exceptions take place. I have many official campaigning letters from Luzhkov, Chubais, Nemtsov and stuff and they also were writtem in the way I provided here.

Thinking about it, in English, it sounds a bit weird to say

Dear Smith Family,


more likely is

Dear John, Kathey, Cliera

Thank your for your help guys. I disagree a bit with Taty, since I've seen Dear X Family many times (in English), but I do understand your point. Add to that the fact that Russian social conventions are a bit different, I think I will use everybody's name after all -- is it ok to say "Ivan Ivanovich, Maria Valerevich, Misha, and Sasha" -- mixing the вы forms of the parents with the informal for the children?

No problem. They are not going to chase you with a stick if you just use their last name either. I dont put Dr. on my credit cards and I would simply use their last name, it's perfectly OK for normal people.

Originally Posted by Barmaley

Thank your for your help guys. I disagree a bit with Taty, since I've seen Dear X Family many times (in English)

You must know lots of families on witness protection...


Sounds very American to me (you probably are American anyway). I be British so I speaks the English proper.

Originally Posted by adoc

I dont put Dr. on my credit cards .

And I don't put 9" penis on my credit card but I'm not going brag about it on forums...

Originally Posted by TATY

Originally Posted by adoc

I dont put Dr. on my credit cards .

And I don't put 9" penis on my credit card but I'm not going brag about it on forums...

If that's the way you see it, then it's a problem with your head (or penis?), dear friend, not mine.

Do you actually have a 9" penis? Can you present it to everybody, so your achievement could be properly documented and confirmed?

Originally Posted by adoc

Originally Posted by TATY

Originally Posted by adoc

I dont put Dr. on my credit cards .

And I don't put 9" penis on my credit card but I'm not going brag about it on forums...

If that's the way you see it, then it's a problem with your head (or penis?), dear friend, not mine.

Do you actually have a 9" penis? Can you present it to everybody, so your achievement could be properly documented and confirmed?

Unfortunately not. But it's a good size.

Originally Posted by TATY

Unfortunately not. But it's a good size.

Hehehe

is it ok to say "Ivan Ivanovich, Maria Valerevich, Misha, and Sasha" -- mixing the вы forms of the parents with the informal for the children?

Actually, I can't separate "вы forms of the parents" from "the informal for the children" in this case. Plus, the name will be Maria Valerievna. Be careful when you're dealing with people's names.

Originally Posted by mishau_

Дорогие Иван Иванович, Мария Ивановна и, конечно, остальные члены семьи!

Is it right that you wouldn't use дорогий in all cases where you would use dear in English? I mean, when it's a bit less personal letter, what do you say instead?

in less personal letters they use "уважаемый"

Уважаемый Иван Иванович!

Довожу до Вашего сведения, что состяние дел на Вашем объекте складывается не лучшим образом, бла-бла-бла....

Уважаемые Иван Иванович и Мария Ивановна!
Приглашаем вас посетить магазин "Мир Рожи" в Сокольниках.

Plus, the name will be Maria Valerievna. Be careful when you're dealing with people's names.

Of course it would be. Unfortunately, I type faster than I think -- and I don't type very fast at all.