What's the difference between "tu" and "Lei"?

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 video

Send Message Reserve Video Session

-"tu" is informal: we use it with friends, with people we know or with people who have more or less our age. In this case, we use the 2nd person singular. An example can be: "ciao, (tu) come stai?" -"lei" is formal: we use it with people we don't know, people older than us or with professionals (doctors etc). The sentence here is at the 3rd person singular. Using the same sentence as before we will say: "buongiorno, (lei) come sta?". Here we need to change the greeting as well, since "ciao" is informal. We will choose somenthing more formal among "buongiorno"/"buonasera" or "salve" depending on the part of the day.

Related Lessons

Thematisch ähnliche Unterrichtseinheiten

How Are You?
Come Stai?

Related Videos

Themenbezogene Videos

How do you pronounce an Umlaut (ä, ö, ü) in German?
Nayane Bremm
When do you use "mi dispiace" and "mi scusi"? What's the difference?
Silvia
Introduction: Petar Markovic
Petar Markovic
¿Cuál es la diferencia entre “Gute nacht”, “Guten abend” y “Gutenachmittag”?
Nayane Bremm
How do you order red wine in Italian?
Silvia
How do I know when to use Akkusativ and when to use Dativ? Is there a rule?
Nayane Bremm
Introduction: Tim Berendse
Tim Berendse
What's the difference between "du" and "Sie"?
Nayane Bremm
Change language:
Französisch Spanisch Englisch Italienisch Deutsch Portugiesisch