You’ll need the word “you” all the time in Italy, whether it’s for making small talk or asking for directions.
But which “you” should you use in Italian?
It can feel a bit confusing at first. In English, there’s just one “you,” but in Italian, there’s a formal and informal version.
Don’t worry, because in this post, you’ll see when to use the formal and informal “you” in Italian with some practical examples that you can use on your next trip to Italy.
Informal You in Italian: Tu
The informal word for “you” in Italian is tu (pronounced “ too” ) .
When do you use the informal you in Italian? You use it with friends, family, people you know well or young people.
In Italian, when you use the informal “you”, you put an -i on the end of the verb (or “doing word”). Because the ending makes it really clear that we’re using the informal “you”, you don’t have to put tu in front, unless you really wanted to emphasise.
For example:
Hai una penna? -Do you have a pen?
E tu? Cosa fai per lavoro? -And you? What do you do for work?
Preferisci mangiare dentro o fuori? -Do you prefer to eat inside or outside?
Formal You in Italian: Lei
The formal word for “you” in Italian is Lei (pronounced “lay”).
The formal “you” is used when you’re talking to people you don't know very well, for example in places like shops, restaurants and museums.
In Italian, verbs in the formal "you" usually end in -a or -e. Because the ending makes it clear, we don’t have to use the word Lei .
For example:
Ha un sacchetto? -Do you have a bag?
Vuole un caffè? -Do you want a coffee?
Deve prendere questo treno -You have to take this train
💡 Good to know: The word for formal “you” in Italian is also the same word as the word for “she”. The context makes it clear which one you mean. Sometimes Lei in the formal is also written with a capital letter.
Plural You in Italian: Voi
In Italian, there’s a separate word for “you” when you’re talking to two or more people: voi (pronounced “voy”). But like with tu and Lei, the verb ending already makes it clear which “you” you’re using, so you don’t have to say voi each time.
You can use voi in both formal and informal situations, so you never have to worry about getting the tone wrong.
When you use voi in Italian, the ending of the verb is -ite, -ate or - ete depending on whether it’s an -ire, are, or -ere verb (more on this in the next section!).
For example: Volete un dolce? -Do you want a dessert?
Preferite acqua naturale o frizzante? -Do you prefer still or sparkling water?
Cercate qualcosa in particolare? -Are you looking for something in particular?
You might use voi if you’re talking to a group of friends and want to ask a question to everyone in the group. Or you’ll hear it often in restaurants when the waiter is asking everyone on your table a question. If you want to practice this more, you can see our blogpost on useful phrases that waiters will use in Italy .
The 3 Ways to Say “You” in Italian: How it Works
You’ve seen above that the endings of the verbs let us know whether we’re using informal, formal or plural “you” in Italian.
So how do you know which ending to use? It depends on which verb we have. In Italian, there are -are verbs, -ere verbs and -ire verbs.
Here’s how it works for each of the three:
-are verbs
| Parlare - to speak | ||
| Parl i | You (informal) speak | PAR-lee |
| Parl a | You (formal) | PAR-lah |
| Parl ate | You (plural) speak | Par-LAH-teh |
-ere verbs
| Vedere - to see | ||
| Ved i | You (informal) see | VEH-dee |
| Ved e | You (formal) | VEH-deh |
| Ved ete | You (plural) speak | Veh-DEH-teh |
-ire verbs
| Dormire - to sleep | ||
| Dorm i | You (informal) sleep | DOR-mee |
| Dorm e | You (formal) sleep | DOR-meh |
| Dorm ite | You (plural) sleep | Dor-MEE-teh |
It’s normal if you feel like remembering how to say the different types of “you” is confusing at first. Don’t worry if you get it wrong. Italians really won’t mind, they understand you’re learning!
Instead of memorizing endings alone, we suggest first focusing on practical phrases you’ll actually hear and use, like the ones you’ve seen above.
Informal and Formal You with Scusi and Scusa
Something strange happens with these two words! Usually the informal “you” ends in -i and the formal “you” ends in -a or -e. But not so with scusi and scusa . Watch this video to find out which one you should use and why.
You in Italian: Formal vs. Informal Explained: Review
Getting the right “you” helps your Italian sound natural and polite. Let’s review what we’ve learnt.
-
The informal “you” in Italian is tu . You use it with people you know well. When using tu , verbs end with -i.
For example:
Preferisci mangiare dentro o fuori? -Do you prefer to eat inside or outside?
-
The formal “you” in Italian is Lei . You use it when speaking to people you don’t know well, like in a shop, or in formal situations, like a fancy restaurant. Verbs with Lei end in -a or -e.
For example:
Vuole un caffè? -Do you want a coffee?
Ha un sacchetto? -Do you have a bag?
-
For talking to more than one person, you use the plural “you” in Italian: voi . It works in both formal and informal situations. Verbs for voi end in -ate, -ete, or -ite.
For example:
Volete un dolce? -Do you want a dessert?
Preferite acqua naturale o frizzante? -Do you prefer still or sparkling water?
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: In today’s episode, we’ll explain the different words for “you” in Italian and when you should use each one.
K: Although it can seem a bit difficult at first, it’s something everyone needs to know, whether you’re a beginner or more advanced, because you’ll need the word “you” all the time in Italy, whether it’s for making small talk or asking for directions.
Before first, can we ask you a quick favore ? If you’re listening to this on your podcast app, could you click the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so we can keep making free lessons like this one. Grazie!
M: You’re going to hear a conversation between Katie and I where we’re pretending to be in a wine shop.
K: When you’re in Italy, you might easily hear or use at least two types of “you” in places like shops and restaurants. You’ll see what we mean a bit later.
M: For this conversation, I’ll be the shop assistant, helping Katie with the wines, and Katie will be the customer.
M: Buongiorno, cerca qualcosa in particolare?
K: Sì, avete un buon Franciacorta?
M: Sì! Ecco le bottiglie di Franciacorta. Vanno da quaranta a centocinquanta euro.
K: Mm… sono un po’ fuori budget.
M: Quanto vuole spendere signora?
K: Massimo quindici euro.
M: Mm, forse preferisce un prosecco?
K: Perfetto!
K: Matteo started by asking:
M: Buongiorno, cerca qualcosa in particolare? - Good morning, are you looking for anything in particular? Literally:
Buongiorno - Good morning
Cerca - you search. It’s in the “formal you” which we’ll explain next.
Qualcosa - something
In - in
Particolare - particular
Cerca qualcosa in particolare?
K: This is a useful phrase because it’s the type of question that shop assistants might ask you in Italy.
One important thing to note is that Matteo is using buongiorno to say hello. A lot of learners use ciao to say hello in all situations. Just keep in mind that ciao is informal, so if you want to use the formal, buongiorno is better.
K: It’s common to use the formal in shops, because you don’t know the person you’re speaking to personally, so it’s a good way to make sure you’re being respectful. Although nowadays, it’s also quite common for shop assistants to be more relaxed and greet you with “ciao”! If in doubt you can say buongiorno , but know you can follow their lead if they say ciao.
M: In general, we use the formal in Italian with adults we don’t know well. Particularly in a situation that feels a bit more formal, like in a fancy wine shop, elegant restaurant or museum.
K: Now let’s talk about how Matteo, our shop assistant, used the formal “you” to ask “are you looking for”: Cerca (x2).
It might seem strange that in Italian there is one word cerca, for “are you looking for”. This is because in Italian, to ask a question, we just raise our voice we literally say “you search something in particular?”.
M: cerca qualcosa in particolare?
K: We’re literally saying “you search”? And we don’t even need the Italian word for “you” because the last letter -A in cerca gives us that information. This is how we know that Matteo used the formal “you”. It’s because it ends in -a, cerca . If we’re using the formal “you”, the verb (which is the action word or “doing word”) usually always ends with -a or -e. In this case -a. Cerca.
M: In Italian, the formal word for “you” is Lei. But in Italian, because the ending of the word already gives us this information, we don’t actually need to say the word “you”.
If we really wanted to emphasise, we could say
Lei cerca qualcosa in particolare? But we don’t need to, we can just say cerca qualcosa in particolare ?
K: The formal “you” in Italian also happens to be the same as the form we use for “she”. This feels strange at first, but Italians nearly always know from the context whether we’re saying “formal you” or “she”. In this case Matteo is speaking to me, so I know he’s using the formal you.
M: If we were using the informal “you” to say “look for”, all we need to do is change the ending: Cerchi (x2). For example, we could say: cerchi il binario? - are you looking for the platform?
Literally:
Cerchi - you search
Il - the
Binario - platform
Cerchi il binario?
K: Did you notice how the end of the verb changed? We added an “i” on the end, which is pronounced like an “ee” sound in Italian. The informal you always ends in the letter -i, pronounced ee.
M: Cerchi (x2)
K: Putting the “i” on the end lets us know we’re using the informal “you”, I don’t have to add the informal word for “you” in front as well, which in Italian is tu.
M: So instead of saying tu cerchi , I can just say cerchi.
You use the informal “you” in Italian to speak with friends, young people or people you know well.
K: There’s a third way to say “you” in Italian and the good news is it can be used in either formal or informal situations, so you never have to worry about getting the tone wrong.
M: The third word for “you” is voi . This one is used when you’re speaking to two or more people. For example, if Katie and I walked into a shop together, because there are two of us, the shop assistant would use the plural you Cercate (x2).
For example, they could ask: Cercate qualcosa in particolare - are you looking for something in particular? Literally:
Cercate - you search, this time in the “you plural” form
Qualcosa - something
In - in
Particolare - Particular
Cercate qualcosa in particolare?
K: Like in the two examples before, we don’t have to put voi in front of the word, we can just say cercate. The -ate ending lets me know I’m using the plural form.
K: So bringing all that altogether we’d say that:
M: You look for, in the informal, is: cerchi (x2)
You look for, in the formal, is cerca (x2)
You look for, for the plural you is: cercate (x2)
Cerchi, cerca, cercate
K: To answer what I was looking for, I replied:
M: Sì, avete un buon Franciacorta? - Yes, do you have a good Franciacorta? Literally:
Sì - yes
Avete - you (plural) have
Un - a
Buon - good
Franciacorta - Franciacorta
M: So, Katie said avete which means “you plural have” when you're talking to more than one person. She’s using it here because in a shop there’s often more than one person there. She’s asking more “do you guys have”, or in other words, “does the shop have”, rather than “do you personally have”.
K: So here, we’ve got avere, which means “to have”. To change it into “voi”, the “you” plural, we say avete, with the ete ending. Previously, you heard how cercare, to search or to look for, became cercate in the “you plural”. Here’s a quick tip – to get the “you plural” form of a verb, you just change the R to a T. Avere , to have, becomes avete . Cercare , to search, becomes cercate.
M: Other places you might hear the plural “you” is in a restaurant if the waiter is asking questions to everyone on your table at the same time, like “are you ready to order?”
K: Or if you’re chatting in a group, and you don’t want to direct a question to one person in the group, but to at least a couple of people, like if you wanted to ask “what plans do you guys have for later?”
M: If I did want to say “do you have” in the formal version, it would be ha , spelled h-a, but the “h” is always silent. For example: ha un buon Franciacorta - do you have a good Franciacorta. Literally:
Ha - you (formal) have
Un - a
Buon - good
Franciacorta - Franciacorta
Ha un buon Franciacorta?
Or, another useful phrase that you can use is in a shop in Italy is: Ha un sacchetto? - Do you have a bag? Literally:
Ha - you (formal) have
Un - a
Sacchetto - bag
Ha un sacchetto?
K: The informal you, “you have” is hai, h-a-i, but again, the “h” is silent.
M: Hai (x2) . For example, you could say: hai una penna - do you have a pen? Literally:
Hai - you (informal) have
Una - a
Penna - pen
Hai una penna?
K: So putting that together it’s:
M: You have, in the informal: hai (x2)
You have, in the formal: ha (x2)
You have, for the plural you: avete (x2)
Hai, ha, avete
K: If at this point you’re thinking, how will I remember all these different endings, don’t worry, it’s completely normal if it feels overwhelming, there are a lot of details to take in! It will come over time with practice. For now, you can focus on the common phrases you might hear and use a lot in everyday life, like the ones in this lesson.
Then Matteo replied:
M: Sì! Ecco le bottiglie di Franciacorta - yes here are the bottles of Franciacorta. Literally:
Sì - yes
Ecco - here are
Le - the
Bottiglie - bottles
Di - of
Franciacorta - Franciacorta
K: Franciacorta is a prestigious Italian sparkling wine—often called Italy’s version of Champagne—made with bubbles formed through a second fermentation in the bottle. It usually has a drier, more complex flavour and is more expensive than Prosecco, which is light and fruity and made in pressurized tanks.
That’s why Matteo added:
vanno da quaranta a centocinquanta euro - they go from forty to one hundred and fifty euros. Literally:
Vanno - they go
Da - from
Quaranta - forty
A - to
Centocinquanta - one hundred and fifty
Euro - euros
K: I always like the idea of going into wine shops and getting fancy wine, but then when I look at the price I leave feeling deflated! So I answered:
M: Mm….sono un po’ fuori budget - They’re a bit out of budget. Literally:
Sono - they are
Un - a
Po’ - bit
Fuori - out
Budget - budget
K: Then the shop assistant replied:
M: Quanto vuole spendere signora? - How much do you want to spend ma’am. Literally:
Quanto - how much
Vuole - you want, this is the formal you
Spendere - to spend
Signora - ma’am
K: So to say “you want” in the formal we say vuole. Ending in -eh.
M: Vuole (x2)
K: Here we see how “you formal” verbs usually end in -ah sound, like cerca, or in an -eh sound, like in vuole . So again, you formal want is:
M: Vuole (x2)
M: To say “you (informal) want” it’s vuoi (x2). It can be a bit tricky to pronounce, but it still ends in an -ee sound, so we can hear that it’s “you informal”. Vuoi.
For example, you could say to your friend: vuoi un gelato? - do you want an ice-cream? Literally:
Vuoi - you (informal) want
Un - an
Gelato - ice-cream
Vuoi un gelato?
K: To say “you (plural) want” it’s volete (x2).
M: For example, at the end of a meal, you might hear a waiter say: volete un dolce? - do you want a dessert? Literally:
Volete - you (plural) want
Un - a
Dolce - dessert
Volete un dolce?
K: So to say “want” for all three types of you, we’d say:
M: You want, in the informal: vuoi x2
You want, in the formal: vuole x2
You want, for the plural you: volete x2
Vuoi, vuole, volete
K: Then I answered how much I wanted to spend:
M: Massimo quindici euro - maximum fifteen euros
Sì, ciao… you’d never find a Franciacorta for that price!
K: My optimism knows no limits. Luckily the shop assistant offers an alternative:
M: Forse preferisce un prosecco? - maybe you would prefer a prosecco? Literally:
Forse - maybe
Preferisce - you (formal) prefer
Un - a
Prosecco - prosecco
K: “You” formal prefer is preferisce . Ending in -eh.
M: Preferisce (x2).
M: To say you informal prefer it’s preferisci . Ending in an -ee sound.
M: Preferisci (x2)
For example, if you arrive at a restaurant with your friend, you could say: preferisci mangiare dentro o fuori? - do you prefer to eat inside or out? Literally:
Preferisci - You (informal) prefer
Mangiare - to eat
Dentro - inside
O - or
Fuori - outside
Preferisci mangiare dentro o fuori?
M: And for you plural it’s:
Preferite (x2) . For example, a waiter might ask everyone at your table: Preferite acqua naturale o frizzante? - do you prefer still or sparkling water? Literally:
Preferite - you (plural) prefer
Acqua - water
Naturale - natural
O - or
Frizzante - fizzy
Preferite acqua naturale o frizzante?
K: Remember the rule to get the “you plural” form? For verbs that end in -ire, like preferire, to prefer, we change the R to a T. So preferire becomes preferite (x2).
K: So altogether that’s:
M: You informal - preferisci
You formal - preferisce
You plural - preferite
Preferisci, preferisce, preferite
K: Let’s do a review of what you’ve learnt to see what you can remember. What’s the word in Italian for the formal “you”? It starts with L.
[...]
M: Lei (x2). I use this when talking to people I don't know very well to be respectful, like waiters or hotel staff, especially if it’s a fancy place. .
[...]
K: But like we mentioned earlier, you don’t always need to say the word “you”. The verb ending usually tells us we’re saying the formal “you”. For example, can you remember how to say: “you (formal) are looking for?” It’s just one word.
[...]
M: Cerca (x2). For example, cerca qualcosa in particolare? - are you looking for something in particular? If a verb ends in an -ah or -eh sound, we’re using the formal you.
K: What’s the Italian word for the informal you? It starts with -t.
[...]
M: Tu (x2) . I use this with people I know well or young people.
K: And how would I say “you (informal) are looking for” in Italian? Remember, we don’t need the tu.
[...]
M: Cerchi (x2). For example, cerchi qualcosa in particolare - are you (informal) looking for something in particular? The word ends in -i, so it tells us we’re using the informal “you”.
K: What’s the word for “you” that I use with two or more people?
[...]
M: Voi (x2)
K: And how would I say “do you plural have?” Remember, we don’t need the voi.
[...]
M: Avete (x2) . For example, Avete un buon Franciacorta? - Do you have a good Franciacorta? Words for the plural you end in - ate, -ete or - ite.
K: Phew, that was a lot!
M: A lot!
K: There are a lot of details to take in, so feel free to take it slow. We suggest focusing first on the words and phrases you’ll hear and use a lot in Italy – listen to this episode as many times as you like so you can start to become familiar with them.
Let’s listen to the whole conversation again.
M: Buongiorno, cerca qualcosa in particolare?
K: Sì, avete un buon Franciacorta?
M: Sì! Ecco le bottiglie di Franciacorta. Vanno da quaranta a centocinquanta euro.
K: Hmm….sono un po’ fuori budget.
M: Quanto vuole spendere signora?
K: Massimo quindici euro.
M: Hmm, forse preferisce un prosecco?
K: Perfetto!
M: We’ve told you the three different forms for “you” in Italian and when to use them. So how do Italians react if you get it wrong?
K: In my experience, they honestly don’t mind. I spent a lot of my first years in Italy just using the informal and no one said anything – people have nearly always been friendly.
M: Most Italians understand that you’re learning. The rules are also flexible depending on the person. Some Italians mostly use the informal, because they feel like the formal is a bit stiff and unfriendly. Others use the formal, because they want to be careful about showing respect.
K: Since we know this topic can be confusing at first, we wanted to put everything together in one place, including using tables to help you see exactly how the different forms of “you” work side by side.
M: We’ve also added a few extra practical phrases that you can use in Italy.
K: To read more, click the link in the description to head over to our website, or go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 191.
M: See you next time.
K: Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz: You in Italian
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: You in Italian
Vocabulary
Hai una penna? = Do you (informal) have a pen?
Preferisci mangiare dentro o fuori? = Do you (informal) prefer to eat inside or outside?
Ha un sacchetto? = Do you (formal) have a bag?
Vuole un caffè? = Do you (formal) want a coffee?
Deve prendere questo treno = You (formal) have to take this train
Volete un dolce? = Do you (plural) want a dessert?
Preferite acqua naturale o frizzante? = Do you (plural) prefer still or sparkling water?
Cerca qualcosa in particolare? = Are you (formal) looking for something in particular?
Vuoi un gelato? = Do you (informal) want an ice-cream?
Flashcards: You in Italian
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
