B2 — upper-intermediatePractical and transactional life

Formal correspondence

Lesson opening

This is the first part of the lesson. The rest, the exercises and the reviews are in the app.

Formal correspondence: a letter that gets read to the end

From the lesson “Formal vs informal register” you already have the frame: Poštovani, at the top and S poštovanjem, at the bottom. Now for what it is for: a letter to the municipal office, the bank, a school, your phone provider, your landlord. It has a skeleton of blocks, types with their own deadlines, expected phrases, and phrases that make it a parody of a clerk.

The skeleton: the blocks from top to bottom

A paper letter and an email share the same blocks; in an email some move into the mail program’s fields.

Examples

Block	What goes in it and where
zaglavlje letterhead	name, address, phone, email; top left; in an email, the signature at the bottom
primalac recipient	Gradska uprava, Odeljenje za opštu upravu; in an email, the “To” field
mesto i datum place and date	U Beogradu, 12. marta 2026. godine; left out of an email
predmet subject	Predmet: Zahtev za izdavanje uverenja; its own line; in an email, the subject line
oslovljavanje salutation	Poštovani, / Poštovana gospođo Marić,; the first line
uvod opening	who you are and what the matter is, in one sentence
razrada body	facts, dates, numbers, references to documents
zaključak request	what you want and by when
pozdrav i potpis closing and signature	S poštovanjem, then name, job title, contact; below that, Prilog: (enclosures)

The order is fixed: a letter that hides its request in the fourth paragraph gets put aside. The address runs from small to large, as in English, but the house number follows the street and the postcode comes before the town: Ulica kralja Milana 12, 11000 Beograd.

The salutation: Poštovani and the comma after it

Know the surname? Use it. Know only the institution? Stay impersonal. Poštovani “respected” does the job of “Dear”, and on its own it means “Dear Sir or Madam”.

Examples

To whom	How
an institution, a company, no one in particular	Poštovani,
a man, by surname	Poštovani gospodine Petroviću,
a woman, by surname	Poštovana gospođo Marić,
by position or title	Poštovani direktore, Poštovani gospodine ministre, Poštovani profesore, Poštovani doktore, Poštovana učiteljice
several people	Poštovane koleginice i kolege, Poštovane dame i gospodo
solemnly, to someone of high rank	Uvaženi gospodine rektore,

Keep three rules. The vocative, the form for the person addressed (lesson “Vocative of names & titles”): gospodin → gospodine, direktor → direktore, Petrović → Petroviću; a woman’s surname ending in a consonant does not change, only gospođa → gospođo (while gospodo in dame i gospodo is the vocative of gospoda “gentlemen”). A comma, then the text on a new line with a small letter (lesson “Direct address”); in emails you will often see a capital, but the norm is a small letter, unlike English. You may use an exclamation mark instead, Poštovani gospodine!, and then the text starts with a capital; in business letters the comma is now the usual choice. A capital Vi: to one person, Vi, Vas, Vam, Vaš (polite “you, your”) take a capital as a mark of respect; to several people, they stay lower-case.

Watch out

The mistake: English salutations copied word for word: “Dear Mr Petrović” → “Dragi gospodine Petroviću”; “Dear Marko” to a stranger → “Poštovani Marko”; no vocative, as in English, → “Poštovani gospodin Petrović”; the full name → “Poštovani gospodine Ivane Petroviću”; or “Zdravo” or “Poštovanje!” in place of a salutation. Why it is wrong: dragi “dear” is for friends, family and close colleagues, never an office; in a letter’s salutation gospodine goes before the surname alone, with no first name, and a first name on its own is too familiar for a stranger; “gospodin” is the nominative where the vocative is required. Zdravo “hi” is for friends only, and Poštovanje! is a spoken greeting on meeting, roughly “my respects”, never the salutation of a letter. The right form: Poštovani gospodine Petroviću, and if you do not know the surname, simply Poštovani, and straight to the point.

Predmet: the line your letter will be found by

Registries sort mail by this line, and the reader decides from it whether to open yours today. It has no verb: type of letter plus matter.

Examples

Subject line	English
Predmet: Zahtev za izdavanje uverenja o prebivalištu	Subject: Application for a certificate of residence
Predmet: Žalba na rešenje broj 03-345/2026 od 12.03.2026.	Subject: Appeal against decision no. 03-345/2026 of 12 March 2026
Predmet: Prigovor na obračun za mart 2026.	Subject: Complaint about the bill for March 2026
Predmet: Urgencija po zahtevu od 5. februara	Subject: Reminder about the application of 5 February

If the letter continues a matter, reference numbers go under the subject: Vaš broj “your ref.”, naš broj “our ref.”, veza “with reference to”.

Cheat sheet

The cheat sheet — everything essential from the lesson on one page. In the app it opens at any time.

Formal correspondence: cheat sheet

Skeleton: zaglavlje → primalac → mesto i datum → Predmet: → oslovljavanje → uvod → razrada → zaključak → S poštovanjem, → potpis → Prilog: Email: letterhead → signature; recipient, subject → fields. Address: Ulica kralja Milana 12, 11000 Beograd.

Salutation

To whom	How
an institution, a stranger	Poštovani,
by surname	Poštovani gospodine Petroviću, Poštovana gospođo Marić,
by position	Poštovani direktore, Poštovani profesore, Poštovana učiteljice,
several people, solemn	Poštovane dame i gospodo, Poštovane koleginice i kolege, Uvaženi gospodine rektore,

Vocative (gospođo, but dame i gospodo); comma, next line with a small letter (after “!”, a capital); Vi, Vas, Vam, Vaš capitalised (small to several people).

Subject, opening, body

subject	Predmet: Zahtev za izdavanje uverenja o prebivalištu; references: Vaš broj, naš broj, veza
openings	Obraćam Vam se povodom… Podnosim zahtev za… Obraćam Vam se molbom da… Povodom Vašeg dopisa od… Ovim putem Vas obaveštavam da… Na osnovu Zakona o…
who you are	Kao stanar… / Kao korisnik Vaših usluga…
linkers	Naime, S obzirom na to da, Međutim, Pored toga, Napominjem da, Iz navedenog sledi da, S tim u vezi
facts	Zahtev je podnet 5. februara. Račun je plaćen. Do danas nisam primio odgovor.
dates, sums	5. februara 2026. godine, 5. 2. 2026., 4.500,00 dinara (day first; a point after day, year, thousands)

Ending, signature, enclosures

request	Molim Vas da mi izdate… Molim Vas za odgovor u zakonskom roku. Bio bih Vam zahvalan ako biste… Ostajem na raspolaganju. Unapred zahvaljujem.
closing	S poštovanjem, standard; Srdačan pozdrav, Lep pozdrav, a known partner; Pozdrav an acquaintance; Pozz friends only
signature	name, job title, phone, email
enclosures	U prilogu dostavljam… Prilog: 1)… Prilažem kopiju ugovora.

Types of letter

zahtev / molba	by right, to an authority / a favour at their discretion
žalba / prigovor, reklamacija	appeal against a decision / to a seller: goods reklamacija, bill, service prigovor
obaveštenje, urgencija, dopis	notice; reminder after silence; an office’s letter
pismo zahvalnosti, opomena	thanks (zahvalnica: a certificate); a debt reminder sent to you
prijava, izjava	signing up (competition, course, exam); a statement of fact
potvrda / uverenje	of a fact / from an authority’s records; residence: both

Officialese

Fine: the formulas above and u vezi sa, na osnovu, u skladu sa, u roku od, navedeni.
Avoid: shodno, u cilju rešavanja predmeta, izvršiti uvid, ne raspolažem informacijom, predmetni, and isti instead of a pronoun.