Greetings in Italian Learn Italian with Podcasts at LearnItalianPod

Greetings in Italian

Cultural note
In Italian, the type of greeting reflects the social hierarchy among people.

A child will use buongiorno-buonasera with an adult, while the adult will use ciao with the children.

Two adults, unless in friendly terms, will use the formal address at all times.

A high school student will use the formal address with the teacher, while the teacher is allowed to use the informal address.

Buongiorno	Formal greetings used during day time when approaching.
Buonasera	Formal greeting used in the late afternoon and evening hours. Both when you approach someone and when you are leaving.
Buonanotte	Formal and informal, used when leaving only at the end of the evening.
Ciao	Informal, used at all times among relatives and friends or with children, both when meeting and leaving.
Arrivederci	Formal and informal, used upon leaving.
Addio	Formal and informal. Used upon leaving.

The type of greeting also determines the GRAMMAR and SYNTAX of speech (PERSON of the VERB that is used):

The INFORMAL mode requires the use of the second person TU (YOU singular in English) with the corresponding form of the verb (ex. essere = sei).

The FORMAL mode requires the third person singular in the feminine LEI (literally SHE in English) with the corresponding form of the verb (ex. essere = e’ ).

	INFORMAL	FORMAL
To a man:	Tu sei italiano?	Lei e’ italiano?
To a woman:	Tu sei italiana?	Lei e’ italiana?

Why would you have to use LEI, a feminine pronoun, to address a male?

Here’s how it came to be…

Even in English the highest form of formality is the third person. Think of a question posed to, say, Queen Elizabeth. It would sound like:

Is Your Majesty Italian?

In Italian the vestiges of that construction are still present: the underlying reference of the formal address is Sua Eccellenza (Your Excellency) as in the example: Sua Eccellenza e’ Italiano? (Is Your Excellency Italian?)

Since Eccellenza is a feminine noun, the corresponding personal pronoun is LEI. Thus the outcome:

Lei e’ Italiano?

Of course Italians no longer imply Sua Eccellenza when they use Lei. They simply use the form that they were taught is polite and respectful.

Source: Fabio Girelli-Carasi - Oggi e Domani

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