In the German language, honorifics distinguish people by age, sex, profession, academic achievement, and rank.
Like many languages, German has pronouns for both familiar (used with family members, intimate friends, and children) and polite forms of address.
Dative case: Ihnen Declension of polite possessive adjectives: Obsolete forms of honorific addresses: In former times, the 2nd person plural ("Ihr" ; like the French « vous ») or the 3rd person singular ("Er" He, "Sie" She) and their corresponding possessive adjectives and verb forms were used.
Using "Herr" for very young men, certainly those below the age of 16, is rather awkward and often avoided (except in letters from the state's bureaucracy) by using the first name, or first name and last name.
“young lord”, and equivalent to Master in English), but this word is now only used in describing a specific class (which properly speaking did not consist of "junkers" in this sense at all, but of "Herren") and in the term Fahnenjunker ("officer candidate 3rd class"), reflecting the tradition that only officers are Herren (though now used together with "Herr", see below under military).
Adjectival predicates are only used for Roman Catholic clergy, and then in the following order: Whether Monsignors of the first degree (that is, Chaplains of His Holiness) are hochwürdigst or hochwürdig is a borderline case.
It is good style, though, to use them at least in all places where layfolk would be addressed as sehr geehrte (which they replace), such as at the beginning of letters, speeches and so forth.
(Note generally that the translation of "Father" into German is only used for the Pope and for abbots, and into Latin only for religious clergy.)
Professors of theology are always addressed by their academic function (except, possibly, if prelates, which usually, though of similar eminence, they aren't).
The traditional honorifics for nobility are, in descending order, The last one is now completely obsolete, as is the incorrect practice of elevating bourgeois notables to Hochwohlgeboren (which emerged in the last years of the German monarchies to give expression to the importance of the bourgeoisie in a society that was in its formalities still pre–Industrial Revolution).
But also Erlaucht, Hochgeboren, Hochwohlgeboren are increasingly rare (and some make a point of not attaching any such predicate unless to sovereigns of non-German states).
unmarried Freifräulein, which is rare, or its more usual abbreviation Freiin), though some "Barone" exist with foreign (e. g. Russian) titles.
Superiors can alternatively call their enlisted subordinates by their function (e. g. Richtschütze "gunner", Kraftfahrer "motorist", Truppführer "assistant squad leader", and so forth).
Though there is a professional qualification called Meister ("master craftsman"), and there is also an outdated honorific called Meister (in this case roughly equivalent to "goodman"; in use, when "Herr" was only applied to high-ranking persons, for the non-dependent men below them), this was never a honorific specifically in use for master craftsmen.
In Austria – and in monarchical times also in Germany – the Head of State can give certain titles to people of notable achievements in their profession (and, if not for civil servants, usually considerable donations to public welfare).
A well-known example is the Kommerzialrat (Prussia: Kommerzienrat) ("Commercial Counsellor [implied: to the Court]), which denotes an entitled businessman.
Hoflieferant is now still attached to the companies who had received it under the monarchies, but no longer as previously to their proprietors in person (if they, as now always the case, came into that position later, whether by inheriting or buying).