Overview
- Researchers reported Wednesday that a study by Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Bielefeld found 30‑year‑olds say "bitte" in about one in four requests while 70‑year‑olds use it nearly twice as often.
- The team argues younger speakers often use words such as "vielleicht" or "eventuell", indirect phrasing and the subjunctive to soften requests and thus preserve politeness without saying "bitte".
- The study also found younger people use the informal pronoun "du" more often, and the choice of address depends on both the speaker's and the addressee's ages.
- The researchers warn the evidence comes mainly from online questionnaires in which participants wrote hypothetical responses, so results reflect reported preferences rather than direct recordings of everyday speech.
- Regional patterns matter: the project documents a North–South gradient in politeness markers and notes Swiss naming and greeting habits can make Germans seem brusque, which could widen perception gaps between communities and change expectations in service and social settings.