Making business phone calls: Scheduling a meeting over the phone

💬 gern softens the request into a polite "I'd like". Swap in what you want: Ich möchte gern einen Rückruf "I'd like a call back".

💬 ein becomes einen because the appointment is the thing you want. Only masculine words like der Termin change this way: eine Frage stays the same.

💬 Herr picks up an -n after mit, für and similar words: mit Herrn Becker, für Herrn Becker. Frau never changes.

🇩🇪 Asking for the person by Herr or Frau plus surname is standard when you call an office. First names are only for people you already know well.

💬 The time or day you propose follows the verb: Passt Ihnen Freitag?. The person being asked is Ihnen, not Sie.

💬 Use um for clock times and am for days: am Dienstag, um zehn Uhr. Together they make am Dienstag um zehn Uhr, though am is often dropped.

🇩🇪 Adding leider is the polite way to turn down a time. A bare nicht or nein sounds curt on a business call.

💬 gehen "to go" also means "to work" or "to be possible" for times and plans. Try Das geht "That works" or Geht das? "Is that OK?".

🇩🇪 Offices give appointment times on the 24-hour clock, so 2 pm is vierzehn Uhr. It avoids any morning/afternoon mix-up when booking.

💬 Whoever the time suits takes the mir/Ihnen form: Das passt mir, Passt Ihnen das?. It is never ich here.

💬 im is short for in dem. It is used for where something happens: im Büro, im Café.

💬 Capitalised Ihre is the polite "your". Lowercase ihre means "her" or "their", so in writing the capital letter matters.

💬 Use für for what you're thanking someone for: Vielen Dank für Ihre Zeit "Thanks for your time".

🇩🇪 Since you can't see each other on the phone, Germans swap Auf Wiedersehen "goodbye (in person)" for this "until we hear each other again". It's the standard close for a business call.