Italian All-in-One For Dummies (152 page)

Commanding politely: Forming the Lei and Loro forms of the imperative

Regular and irregular forms of the polite (formal) imperative change the characteristic vowel of the infinitive.
A
becomes
i,
and
e
and
ono
change to
a
and
ano.
So if you want to say
Lei parl
a
(
you
[singular, formal]
are speaking
) as a command, you'd say
parl
i
(
speak
);
Lei chied
e
(
you
[singular, formal]
ask
) becomes
chied
a
(
ask
);
Loro finisc
ono
(
you
[plural, formal]
are finishing
) becomes
finisc
ano
(
finish
).

As a general rule, the
Lei
command for irregular verbs takes its stem from the first person singular of the verb's present indicative. You can see examples in
Table 3-4
.

Table 3-4 Lei Commands of Irregular Verbs

Naturally,
avere
(
to have
) and
essere
(
to be
) continue to do their own idiosyncratic thing. The
Lei
command for
essere
is
sia;
for
avere,
it's
abbia.

These days, people don't use the formal plural command
Loro
often. If you're speaking to a group of people, formally, chances are you're going to use the
voi
form instead of
Loro.
Instead of saying
Parlino
(
Speak
), you'd say
Parlate.
Instead of saying
Ripetano
(
Repeat
), say
Ripetete.
This increasingly common practice will simplify your linguistic life to no end.

When in doubt — such as when you're talking to someone you met at a conference, or to a bureaucrat — use the formal, just as you do in speaking English.

In some instances, you never use the familiar. For example, you'll probably always be formal with the butcher you've gone to for 20 years; likewise, you'll be formal with your doctor or a teacher. Every now and again, you can avoid the use of a command completely. When asking a waiter for the bill, you say
Ci fa il conto per favore?
(
Would you bring the bill please?
) This isn't a direct translation, but you get the idea. It's polite without being demanding.

Adding pronouns to imperatives

Some general — even dependable — rules exist for adding pronouns to the imperative.

Affirmative familiar commands attach pronouns to the end of the command. The indirect object always precedes the direct object pronoun. For example:
Alzati
(
Get up
) and
Leggimelo
(
Read it to me
).

When using the one-syllable commands (refer to
Table 3-3
for examples), you double the initial letter of the direct object pronoun, except when the pronoun is
gli.
For example:
Dammelo
(
Give it to me
),
Fammi
vedere
(
Show me
), and
Diglielo
(
Tell it to him
).

With negative familiar commands, you have a choice: You can either attach the pronouns to the ends of the commands (dropping the final
e
from the infinitive in the case of the
tu
form) or put the pronouns in front of the command, like this:
Non lo fare
(
Don't do it
),
Non mi parlare
(
Don't talk to me
), and
Non me lo dare
(
Don't give it to me
). You can also say
Non farlo, Non parlarmi,
and
Non darmelo.

Formal commands, both affirmative and negative, always place the pronoun before the command itself. Therefore, you say
Non lo faccia
(
Don't do it
) or
Mi dica
(
Tell me
).

To visualize and compare all these forms, check out
Table 3-5
.

Table 3-5 Familiar and Formal Commands