Easy Learning Italian Grammar (2011)

PRONOUNS

2. How to say you in Italian

In English we have one way of saying you. In Italian, the word you choose depends on:

whether you’re talking to one person or more than one

how well you know the person concerned.

Use tu when you are speaking to a person you know well, or to a child. If you are a student you can call another student tu. If you have Italian relations, of course you call them tu.

Use lei when speaking to strangers, or anyone you’re not on familiar terms with. As you get to know someone better they may suggest that you call each other tu instead of lei.

Use voi when you are speaking to more than one person, whether you know them well or not.

tu, lei and voi are subject pronouns. There are also different forms for you when it is not a subject. These are explained in the section of this chapter on object pronouns.

Note that lei, the polite word for you, also means she. This is rarely confusing, as the context makes it clear – if someone speaks directly to you using lei, the meaning is obviously you.

Key points

you don’t generally need to use a subject pronoun in Italian. The verb ending makes it clear who is being referred to.

you use subject pronouns in Italian only for emphasis or for contrast.

There are two different ways of saying you when talking to one person: tu for people you know well; lei for people you don’t know.

you use voi if you are speaking to more than one person.