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

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 video

Nachricht senden Videositzung reservieren

-"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.

Thematisch ähnliche Unterrichtseinheiten

関連レッスン

Wie geht es dir?
Come Stai?

Themenbezogene Videos

Why do ラ (ra), リ (ri), ル (ru), レ (re) and ロ (ro) sometimes sound like they begin with a /d/ sound? And why are they used sometimes for an /l/ sound?
Yuuki Takanishi
Introduction: Yuuki Takanishi
Yuuki Takanishi
What are the different ways of saying “welcome” in Italian?
Silvia
What's the difference between "tu" and "Lei"?
Silvia
Profile Introduction
Gaudre Trainyte
When do you use "mi dispiace" and "mi scusi"? What's the difference?
Silvia
How do you order red wine in Italian?
Silvia
What is the difference between とうも (doumo) and ありがとう (arigatou)?
Yuuki Takanishi
Sprache wechseln:
英語 日本語