Introduction
Introduzione
Italian has both a formal and informal way of addressing people. This makes asking the simple question "How are you?" slightly more complicated than in English. You need to know which "you" to use:
• tu the informal, which takes the second-person singular verb tense, or
• lei the formal, with a uppercase L, which with a lowercase is the third-person feminine pronoun, equivalent to "she".
Tu is used among close friends, family, and people younger than you. Lei is used for strangers - or even acquaintances - and people older than you.
It is very important to use which level of formality to use. It can be very insulting to someone to address them incorrectly.
To learn more about tu, Lei and similar words, check out the subject pronouns lesson.
• tu the informal, which takes the second-person singular verb tense, or
• lei the formal, with a uppercase L, which with a lowercase is the third-person feminine pronoun, equivalent to "she".
Tu is used among close friends, family, and people younger than you. Lei is used for strangers - or even acquaintances - and people older than you.
It is very important to use which level of formality to use. It can be very insulting to someone to address them incorrectly.
To learn more about tu, Lei and similar words, check out the subject pronouns lesson.
Vocabulary
Vocabolario
tu
you
informal nominative personal
bene
fine
well
come
how
interrogative
such as
interrogative
as
interrogative
like
interrogative
male
bad
tutto
everything
all
molto
much
very
Lei
you
formal nominative personal
you
formal disjunctive personal
stare
to be
temporal
to stay
Phrases
Proposizioni
Come sta?
How are you?
formal
Come stai?
How are you?
informal
Che si dice?
What's up?
Come va?
How's it going?
Tutto bene?
Everything okay?
Sto bene.
I'm fine.
Non sto molto bene.
I'm not very well.
E tu?
And you?
informal
E Lei?
And you?
formal
Molto bene.
Very good.
Male.
Bad
Benvenuto.
Welcome