DTZ · Schreiben · B1
The DTZ letter is a skill, not a template
B1 German gates both citizenship and permanent residence, and the DTZ writing section is one semi-formal letter. Graders can tell a memorised template from real writing. Mening sends you one short German writing task a day, corrects it, and keeps a list of the mistakes you repeat.
A task the test could ask tomorrow
Die Heizung in Ihrer Wohnung ist seit einer Woche kaputt. Schreiben Sie einen Brief an die Hausverwaltung.
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, ich wohne in Wohnung 12 und schreibe Ihnen, weil die Heizung ist kaputt weil die Heizung kaputt ist. Es ist schon seit einer Woche sehr kalt in die Wohnung in der Wohnung. Bitte schicken Sie so bald wie möglich einen Techniker.
The trap: Two mistakes graders see constantly in learner German: the verb refusing to move to the end after 'weil', and a two-way preposition taking the accusative where location needs the dative.
What the test asks for — and what Mening sends
The DTZ letter is always one of a few practical shapes. Mening's daily prompts rotate through exactly these, at your level.
A complaint to a landlord or a companyFormal complaints come up regularly: something went wrong, write to the office responsible, say what you expect.
A request for help, permission or informationRequest prompts set up the situation and have you write the polite letter itself.
A message about a change of plansCancelling, postponing, apologising: prompts have you inform the person it affects and say what happens next.
A grader sees your letter once. Mening has been counting for weeks.
Verb at the end after 'weil'
Aug 2Aug 9Aug 12today
4th time — this is the one to fix
Most learners cycle through the same fifteen or twenty mistakes for years. Mening keeps them on a list, tells you when one comes back, and retires it when you stop making it.
B1 gates both permitssince June 2024 citizenship takes 5 years with B1 (DTZ, telc or Goethe); the C1 fast track was abolished in November 2025. Permanent residence asks for B1 too.
Nearly half fall shortaround 319,000 people took the DTZ in 2025 and only about 55% reached B1. Retakes are the norm; steady practice is the difference.
The writing section is one lettera semi-formal letter of 100–150 words in about 30 minutes: a complaint, a request, an apology. Exactly the shape of Mening's daily tasks.
What Mening is not
Not a course, not a mock exam, and not a stack of template letters. There is no listening, reading or speaking section here, and nobody times you. Mening trains the one thing the writing section grades: whether you can produce a short, correct German letter on demand. It does that by making you write a little every day.
One prompt a day, in German, at your level. Corrections that remember you.
Try it free 