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Tag Archives: Italian formal and informal ways of addressing people

Lei or Lei, how to tell you from her … Posted by on Sep 20, 2013

Recently, I wrote several posts about the formal personal pronoun “lei” (you singular). I also explained that the use of the capital letter for the formal pronoun is an artificial distinction created by some grammar books to make it ‘easier’ to recognise. In reality, Lei (you) written with a capital letter is uncommon, and only…

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Tu and Lei – Part 2 Posted by on Nov 16, 2011

In Tu and Lei – Part 1 we looked at the changes that take place when we address people using either the informal tu or the formal Lei. Today we’ll look at the differences between tu and Lei when we give polite orders such as ‘take the next road on the left’ or ‘take a…

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Tu and Lei – Part 1 Posted by on Nov 9, 2011

In Italian we have two main forms of addressing people: the informal tu and the formal lei. We normally use tu with family, friends, and children. Lei is used with people we don’t know, and professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, the police etc. Have a look at the following examples in which the informal is…

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