In Italy we pay a lot of attention when we talk to other people and for us it is always important to make a difference between formal and informal situation. You should know that if you talk informally to some people, they might feel offended. So in this post, I will try to explain when we need to use the second person singular “TU” (you) and when it's better to use the third person singular “LEI”.
Today
we can use TU in some social situations also if we don't
have a close relation with people. While in the past at primary
school students never used “tu” when they talked to their
teachers, today it is common to speak in a informal way with
teachers.
LEI is used to show more respect to people, for example when we
talk to seniors or people older than us. Also at work it is common
to speak in a formal way with someone that has a higher
position in the company or when we do a job interview. Generally, we
use LEI when we are in a
formal context such as in a restaurant, in a shop or in a bank.
We can
change from LEI to TU only if the other
person gives us the permission. In this case he/she will say: “Possiamo darci del tu?”
Remember
that the subject pronoun “lei” means “she”, but in a formal
situation “Lei” is used to translate “you formal”.
Let's
try to understand the difference between TU and LEI with some examples.
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