Did you know that Italian has several ways to say “please”?
After a quick search you might be overwhelmed by the number of options. How can one English word be translated in so many ways?
Here though you’ll learn the 3 essential ways to say please in Italian - the ones you’ll really use and hear on a day to day basis in Italy.
What’s more, you’ll pick up expert tips on exactly when to use them, when not to use them and how to say them.
So please - let’s begin!
Per favore
This is probably your go-to option for “please” in Italian, because it works great in most situations. Here’s how to use per favore in a sentence:
You could be ordering something:
Un caffè, per favore. - A coffee, please.
Or buying train tickets:
Due biglietti, per favore. - Two tickets please.
Or asking someone for a favour:
Può aiutarmi, per favore? - Can you help me, please?
In fact, that’s actually where per favore comes from! It literally means “for favour”.
When it comes to the pronunciation, be careful not to mix it up with the Spanish por favor. There are two important differences:
- In Italian, we say per - be sure to pronounce the ‘e’
- Favore is 3 syllables: FA - VO - REH
To say the whole phrase you also need to pronounce the R’s like an Italian. Don’t worry too much if it doesn’t come naturally though! It’s quite a tricky sound for English speakers to produce. You can learn more about how to pronounce R in Italian here.
Once you’ve got the hang of per favore, you can learn a second way to say “please” in Italian…
Per piacere
Italians use per piacere and per favore interchangeably; they’re synonyms!
That means you can use it when ordering something:
Un cappuccino, per piacere. - A cappuccino, please.
Or with any other kind of request:
Posso vedere il menu, per piacere? - Can I see the menu, please?
In some ways, per piacere is even closer to the English “please”. Why? Well that’s what piacere literally means: “to please”, or “pleasure”.
What about the pronunciation? It can be a little tricky at first! Piacere has three syllables:
- PYA - the “i” actually sounds like a Y.
- CHE - like at the beginning of “chess”
- REH - like at the beginning of “rent”
PYA-CHE-REH
Now you know two ways to say please. The third most used way might already sound familiar…
Grazie!
Surprise! Our third essential way to say “please” in Italian is: grazie.
This might seem strange because grazie means “thanks” in Italian - not “please”. How does this work?
Italians use grazie all the time when, for example, ordering or buying things:
Un cappuccino, grazie. - A cappuccino, please.
Due biglietti, grazie. - Two tickets, please.
We also use it when responding to an offer:
Con zucchero? - With sugar?
Sì, grazie! - Yes please!
Here’s another example:
Vuole prenotare un tavolo? - Do you want to reserve a table?
Sì, grazie. - Yes, please.
Common mistake alert! In Italian it’s incorrect to say: sì, per favore or sì, per piacere. When accepting an offer in Italian, we always say sì, grazie.
However, you should avoid using grazie when asking for a favour, or in situations where the other person is free to say ‘no’. You might risk sounding presumptuous:
- Katie, can you pay the bill? Grazie!
Now you know how to use it, you’ll want to get the pronunciation right, too! Click here to learn how to pronounce grazie.
So now you know the three main ways to say ‘please’ in Italian. And you’ve just picked up some important cultural details to make sure you get the usage right.
But after a while in Italy, you might start to suspect Italians just don’t say “please” as much as English speakers do…
When don’t Italians say “please”?
You might notice that Italians don’t say “please” as much as English speakers - does that mean they’re being rude?
Actually it’s common for Italians to make polite requests using one or more of these three techniques:
- A polite tone of voice
- The formal address
- The Italian version of ‘could’
Let’s look at some examples. Imagine you want to ask for the bill in a polite way.
Italians might just use a polite tone:
Il conto? - The bill?
Saying the word with a smile and making your tone polite works a charm!
Or make it a sentence, and remember the formal address:
Può portare il conto? - Can you bring the bill? (può = can you, formal)
Or to be extra polite, you can use potrebbe (could you) just like in English:
Potrebbe portare il conto? - Could you bring the bill? (potrebbe = could you, formal)
But remember, adding “please” to your request never hurt anyone!
After all, if you’re learning Italian, adding per favore or grazie and smiling is an easy shortcut to sounding polite.
Now it’s time to put your knowledge to the test, and take our quiz. But before you do that, here’s a quick review!
3 Essential Ways to say Please in Italian: Review
The three essential ways to say “please” in Italian are:
- Per favore
- Per piacere
- Grazie
The first two, per favore and per piacere are interchangeable. Use them for most requests:
Un caffè, per favore / per piacere - A coffee, please
Due biglietti, per favore / per piacere - Two tickets, please
Mi può aiutare, per favore / per piacere? - Can you help me, please?
And Italians also use grazie to mean “please” when they know the answer is “yes”, for example, when ordering:
Un caffè, grazie - A coffee, please.
And especially when responding to an offer, like when you say “yes please”:
Vuoi un caffè? - Do you want a coffee?
Sì, grazie. - Yes, please!
Finally, just remember that Italians don’t always use please. They can stay polite by:
- Using an appropriate tone of voice (i.e., “with a smile”)
- Using formal address with strangers (può = can you, formal)
- Saying ‘could you’ (potrebbe = could you, formal)
Now let’s move onto our quiz!
Vocabulary: 3 Essential Ways to say Please in Italian
Due biglietti, per favore = Two tickets, please (lit. for favour)
Un cappuccino, per piacere = A cappuccino, please (lit. to please)
Può portare il conto? = Can you bring the bill?
Potrebbe portare il conto? = Could you bring the bill?
Per piacere = Please (lit. to please)
Per favore = Please (lit. for favour)
Sì, grazie! = Yes please! (in Italian, we don’t say "per favore" after "sì")
Quiz: 3 Essential Ways to say Please in Italian
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: 3 Essential Ways to say Please in Italian
Flashcards: 3 Essential Ways to say Please in Italian
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Transcript: 3 Essential Ways to say Please in Italian
Please note, this is not a word for word transcript.
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”. Shall we get straight into the dialogue, Matteo?
M: Please!
K: It’s a conversation we have quite often.
M: Al ristorante…
K: Listen out for any phrases you think could mean “please”.
K: Uffff. Ho mal di stomaco.
M: Allora non prendere la pizza, per piacere.
K: OK.
C: Cosa prendete?
M: Una margherita. Grazie.
K: Una quattro formaggi, per favore.
C: Vuole l’olio piccante?
K: Sì, grazie.
Did you hear three different ways to say please? Let’s break it down. I said:
Ho mal di stomaco. - I’ve got a stomach ache. Literally:
Ho - I have
Male - which means ‘bad’. In this expression, we shorten it to ‘mal’
Di - of
Stomaco - stomach
Mal di stomaco - stomach ache.
K: I get stomach aches a lot, but I cannot resist Italian food.
M: I do my best to stop her, but it’s a losing battle. In fact, next I said:
Allora non prendere la pizza, per piacere - Well don’t have the pizza, please
Allora - Well
Non - Not
Prendere - Take. In Italian we don’t ‘have’ food or drink at a restaurant, we ‘take’ it.
La pizza - The pizza
Per piacere - Please
K: Here’s our first example of a way to say ‘please’:
M: Per piacere - Please
K: You might already know per favore, which is the most common. But not a lot of people know that you can also use per piacere in the same way. For example ‘a coffee, please’:
M: Un caffè, per piacere
K: An ice-cream, please.
M: Un gelato, per piacere.
K: In piacere, the first part is spelt ‘P - I - A’, but the I sounds like a Y. So it’s PYA. Not PIA.
M: Pya… pya… pya. Piacere, piacere, piacere.
K: Let’s add per to the beginning. Practise with Matteo:
M: Per piacere (x3)
K: Then I said:
M: OK.
K: And the waiter asks:
Cosa prendete? - What are you having?
Cosa - What
Prendete - You take. Again, we say prendere, literally ‘to take’, when we order food. Prendete is the plural ‘you’ form, for when you’re talking to more than one person. Like saying ‘you all’ or ‘you both take’:
M: Prendete.
K: Then, Matteo says:
Una margherita. Grazie. - A margherita pizza, please. Literally:
Una margherita - A margherita
Grazie - Thanks
K: So the word grazie - normally “thank you”, can also mean… “please”!
M: Surprise!
K: In English it might sound a bit presumptuous if you say “thanks” instead of please. But in Italian it’s really common, especially in situations where you can safely assume that the answer is yes, such as ordering and buying common things. For example, when ordering a coffee:
M: Un caffè, grazie.
K: Or buying two tickets - due biglietti
M: Due biglietti, grazie.
K: In Italian, the only time it risks sounding presumptuous is when it feels rude to assume the answer is ‘yes’.
M: Like, Katie can you pay the bill? Grazie.
K: Exactly, best avoided in those kinds of situations!
Next, here comes our last word for please - and the most typical one.
Una quattro formaggi, per favore. - A four cheese pizza, please. Literally:
Una - A
Quattro - four
Formaggi - cheese
Per favore - please
K: My stomach is hurting, but a good quattro formaggi is still worth it.
And here we have per favore, the old faithful. You can use it for any request, just like per piacere. They’re interchangeable.
When it comes to the pronunciation, be careful not to mix it with the Spanish por favor. There are two important differences. First, in Italian, we say per, not por. Be sure to pronounce the ‘e’ in per.
M: per (x3)
K: Next, favore is 3 syllables: FA - VO - REH
M: favore (x3)
K: All together:
M: Per favore x3
K: Finally, we heard:
Vuole l’olio piccante? - Would you like spicy oil?
Vuole - You want (formal address)
L’olio - The oil (that’s: l, apostrophe ‘olio’)
Piccante - Spicy
M: Olio piccante, spicy oil, why do you do this to yourself when you have a stomach ache?
K: Scusami. But you can’t have a quattro formaggi pizza without olio piccante.
K: To accept, I said:
M: Sì, grazie - yes, please.
And here’s a little common mistake alert! To say “yes please”, Italians actually use grazie.
M: We never say sì, per favore or sì, per piacere. We always say sì, grazie.
K: For example, I could ask our dog, Brody, ‘do you want to go for a walk’?
M: If dogs could talk, Brody would definitely say sì, grazie!
K: Let’s review. The two most standard ways to say “please” in Italian are:
M: Per favore
K: Which is the most common, and…
M: Per piacere
K: But there are also a couple of situations where Italians use grazie. For example, if you’re ordering something, like a coffee, you can say:
M: Un caffè, grazie.
K: And if you’re answering a question, Italians don’t say ‘yes please’. They literally say ‘yes, thank you’:
M: Sì, grazie!
K: Let’s listen to the dialogue one last time:
K: Uffff. Ho mal di stomaco.
M: Allora non prendere la pizza, per piacere.
K: OK.
C: Cosa prendete?
M: Una margherita. Grazie.
K: Una quattro formaggi, per favore.
C: Vuole l’olio piccante?
K: Sì, grazie.
M: Did you know that there are a few other ways to be polite in Italian, that are a bit different compared to other cultures?
K: To learn them, and see everything from today’s episode written down, head over to our website by clicking on the link in the description. You’ll also get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz to help you remember everything.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
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