Of course you can say "inquire" but I'd stick to "ask".

Sorry, I hit Send too fast.

Alternative to "how things stand with our/my order": the status of our/my order.

Rep--How do things look with my offer/quote/quotation?

Customer--IŽm still waiting on another quote.

Rep--When do you think youŽll be making a decision / placing the order?

Customer--Hopefully by the end of the week.

OOPS! I misread Auftrag für Angebot. Time to quit for the day.

Of course it should be offer/quote/quotation or whatever is implied by the context.

Also einfach so? :
Dear Mr. yx,
How do things look with my offer/quote/quotation.
sincerely yours,
Dirk

oder :

Dear Mr. yx,
i'd like to askh ow things look with my offer/quote/quotation.
When do you think youŽll be making a decision?
sincerely yours,
Dirk

?

Danke

My comments were for spoken English. I incorrectly assumed it was for a telephone call.

so i shouldn't use it for a mail/letter?

What else can write?

But I'm generally not a very polite person, which makes it hard for me to think as one!!!!

ok. dann mache ich es noch etwas schwerer. Höflich, aber nicht zu formell.

> I politely ask about the status of our offer

Kommt mir sehr steif vor.

WhatŽs your relationship with Mr. XY like? How well do you know him? Is he a new or repeat customer? Is your contact with him in a more formal or informal English?

You could write instead:
Could you please give me an update of our offer...
Would you please refer to our offer...

Besides, really steif would be:

Would you please be so kind as to reply to the content of our proposed offer...

That would really drive them nuts!!!

Dear Mr. XYZ,

I was wondering about the status of our offer/quote/quotation and wanted to inquire about it. Do you have any idea when you'll be making a decision?

Sincerely yours,

Dirk

@McD--I support your wording, but for some reason most German speakers do not like to use "wonder", for whatever reason. I would use it without thinking twice though.

I know him quiet well. i'll use the proposed translation. Thank you.

>>Ich wollte (mal) nachfragen

I just wanted to ask / inquire (about) ...
I was just wondering (about) ...
I just wanted to follow up on ...

>>wie es mit X steht.

... how things (currently) stand with X.
... how things are going with X (at this point).
... how things look / are looking with X.
... what's happening with X.
... the status of X.

>>Wann kann ich damit rechnen?

Could you please let me know ...
Would you mind letting me know ...
Could you give me some idea of ...

... when I can expect to hear from you?
... when I can expect an answer / a decision?
... when you will be making a decision?
... when we can expect to receive X?
... when X will be ready?



For me, 'wanted to inquire' is basically redundant after 'I was wondering.'

Just in case it's not obvious, the suggestions made by Swagman are all incorrect.

@Dirk: Another tip: 'Mail' in English is a non-count noun, so you should say 'an e-mail' instead of *'a mail.'

@philke: because "wonder" is so close to the Germam "sich wundern", which is more like to be astonished/to marvel. you could never really translate that German word with "I was wondering", it's just not German ^_^

@Annie--Thanks for the comment, but how would you translate "I wonder" or "I was wondering", which is really what I was getting at.

LEO shows "gern wissen wollen". Any other possibilities?

@philke: Although your question really was for Annie, I would like to answer it anyway:
Another possibility to translate "I wonder" or "I was wondering" would be: "Ich habe mich gefragt, wie....". This is pretty informal, though, and it is often translated that way in movies.
I also think LEO's suggestion hits it pretty well.

I'm with Nicole here. "I wonder why..." is close to "Ich frage mich, wieso...", and that's quite informal, or even insulting, at least in a business letter / e-mail. Regarding Dirk's question, "Ich frage mich, wieso..." would could be understood as something like "Hey, why don't you answer?"

Hier vielleicht eine hilfreiche Liste an Möglichkeiten zum nachfragen:

With reference to your letter of 8 June, I ...
I am writing to enquire about ...
After having seen your advertisement in ... , I would like ...
After having received your address from ... , I ...
I received your address from ... and would like ...
We/I recently wrote to you about ...
Thank you for your letter of 8 May.
Thank you for your letter regarding ...
Thank you for your letter/e-mail about ...
In reply to your letter of 8 May, ...