Why Do We Capitalise After the Salutation?

Did you know that the first word after “Dear” is always capitalised in English, but in German, it’s lowercase? 

But why?

1. English Loves a Fresh Start
   In English, we love starting things with a bang—or at least with a capital letter. So, when we say “Dear Reader,” it’s as if we’re starting a brand new sentence. That means the next word gets the VIP treatment and is capitalised.
   For example:

    

   “Dear Reader, Thank you for visiting my blog today.”
   

   It’s like giving your sentence a fancy haircut before it walks out the door. No messy lowercase letters at the start, please.

2. But What About German?
   In German, the word after the salutation isn’t capitalised. So, you’d write:

    

   “Lieber Leser, vielen Dank, dass Sie heute meinen Blog besuchen.”
   

   Why? Well, in German, they treat the salutation as if it’s part of the same sentence. So, no need to give that first-word special treatment. It’s like a nice, orderly German line where everything is in its place—no need for extra capital letters causing chaos.

3. Which One Is Better?
   Honestly? Neither is better or worse—they’re just different ways of doing things. English likes to make the salutation its own thing, like a little mini-introduction. German likes to keep things connected and tidy.

So, dear reader, now you know why English capitalises after the salutation and German doesn’t.

Next time you’re writing an email or letter, you can impress your colleagues with your knowledge of this small but mighty grammar rule.