Can the native German speakers on here answer a question please?

[MinnieMountain]

Is it more usual these days to call strangers “du”?

We’re on holiday in Austria. A couple of times, fellow tourists have called me “du”. Is that more the done thing now? When I learnt German in the 90’s we were taught that the du and Sie rules were strict.

it's definitely more common now. especially in informal places. going with the formal address if unsure.

Generally things are slightly more relaxed, especially amongst younger generations. Depends on the location too. I would always use Du with other parents when on the playground for example. Berlin may be more relaxed than a village in Bavaria. Many restaurants and shops automatically use Du.

Interesting.

We’re in a village in Styria. When I was stuck on the high ropes course yesterday the German man who helped me, both in our 40’s, used Du.

It’s more common to use du with strangers amongst people in your own generation or younger. So parents at school for example, even if you’ve not met them will often go straight to du. Even in some shops but totally depends on the vibe!

Always use Sie for the older generation though! Our kids also have to use Sie when addressing their teachers in secondary school and in some workplaces where there is a hierarchy it’s also Sie.

These days among people your own age it's often a straight-to-du. In a restaurant the other day in Franconia and the (young, female) servers were also saying du to everyone. My workplace is very du. Times have definitely changed!

I live in a small Bavarian town, but it has been very Americanised by the local US army base so it's quite informal. I hear "du" a lot, and lots of Germans speaking English with an American accent!

Not native but live in Germany, and yes it seems the strict du/Sie rules we learnt at school are outdated.

I worked in two separate shops, one used du between all staff and for all customers, whereas the other was du between most of the staff, but Sie and Frau/Herr X for the managers, especially if they were older. That went both ways and they also called us Frau X. In that shop we were instructed to call customers Sie.

Between younger people under about 50/60 it seems that du is preferred, and certainly among any age when meeting in a casual context like a hobby club or social setting. I tend to use Frau/Herr and Sie with any more formal setting or where I know the person by their surname, such as school teachers and doctors, but if someone introduces themselves by their first name, then du is usually correct. It took me a while to get that distinction but that's my rule of thumb now.

I love how languages evolve.

I have found myself using du to the woman half my age who served me in a local bar, then Sie to the woman in her 70’s who served me in another one. Then I worried that I had offended the younger woman. But it seems not.

As a tourist you also definitely get leeway. People are usually just pleased you're trying to use German!

Interesting - when I started at work over ten years ago my German colleagues would often refer to each other as Mr and Mrs Name rather than by their first names, especially older colleagues. That's all changed!

Interestingly, one of the contexts where it’s more acceptable to auto-duz is up in the mountains; when you’re all climbers or hikers together, there are no or fewer hierarchies. That might be a degree of what you’re experiencing in Austria. I’ve personally found Austria to be quite conservative at going over to du by comparison with the Swiss, who are unexpectedly informal. It’s a minefield though - I’m currently emailing with Swiss clients, not sure about ages and relative seniorities, and one of them went straight to du while the other is sticking to Sie so far.
DH and I, being old farts, quite resent the zwangsduzen at our local gym. That’s Frau Grey to you, young man.

My best friend is Austrian (and a fluent English speaker) but although I'm pretty good at the romance languages, including European Portuguese which is reckoned to be difficult I've found German much harder to get to the point of holding a conversation! I was really surprised how difficult I've found all the prepositions, split verbs - and if you don't learn the gender with the noun the whole sentence can be grammatically screwed (my friend assures me many Austrians make mistakes and no-one would notice, but......)

Anyway he brought his mother over this year and I worried myself into knots about it because while I'm fairly confident with the 'du' form, I know I'm really shaky on the formal version (not to mention ihr, euch, and all those other words which aren't as easy as dich, dir and dein!)

I asked him to tell her I was sorry and just a hopeless beginner, and I mostly stuck to 'du' throughout. She was absolutely lovely anyway and assured me we would be on first name terms in no time if we were neighbours, and she seemed mostly delighted I was having a go at German, so it wasn't a problem.

But I do wonder how I'd get on IN Austria trying to talk to people. Interesting topic OP. thank you and for all the responses too!

Zwangsduzen is a great word!

I’m rather enjoying the fact that the locals generally stick to talking to me in German.