Italian Language Lessons
Grammar, spelling, and usage
Italian Formal Commands
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Need to tell your teacher, supervisor, or the Italian prime minister to do something? Use the subjunctive form of the verb to form the formal commands. The table below contains some examples of formal commands.
Some of the verbs have irregular stem changes in the io form. Sometimes, this form is used to construct the imperatives of Lei and Loro.
| FORMAL COMMANDS: VERBS WITH STEM CHANGES |
|---|
| INFINITIVE | PRESENT-INDICATIVE FORM OF IO | IMPERATIVE FORM OF LEI | IMPERATIVE FORM OF LORO |
|---|
| andare (to walk) | vado | Vada! | Vadano! |
| apparire (to appear) | appaio | Appaia! | Appaiano! |
| bere (to drink) | bevo | Beva! | Bevano! |
| cogliere (to pick, to pluck) | colgo | Colga! | Colgano! |
| dire (to say, to tell) | dico | Dica! | Dicano! |
| fare (to make) | faccio | Faccia! | Facciano! |
| porre (to place, to put down) | pongo | Ponga! | Pongano! |
| rimanere (to stay, to remain) | rimango | Rimanga! | Rimangano! |
| salire (to climb) | salgo | Salga! | Salgano! |
| scegliere (to choose, to pick) | scelgo | Scelga! | Scelgano! |
| sedere (to sit down) | siedo | Sieda! | Siedano! |
| suonare (to play a musical instrument) | suono | Suoni! | Suonino! |
| tradurre (to translate) | traduco | Traduca! | Traducano! |
| trarre (to draw, to pull) | traggo | Tragga! | Traggano! |
| udire (to listen) | odo | Oda! | Odano! |
| uscire (to exit) | esco | Esca! | Escano! |
| venire (to come) | vengo | Venga! | Vengano! |
Finally, some verbs have irregular formal command forms that are not based on any present-indicative forms, and which you will have to memorize. These verbs are listed below.
| FORMAL COMMANDS: IRREGULAR VERBS |
|---|
| INFINITIVE | LEI | LORO |
|---|
| avere | Abbia! | Abbiano! |
| dare | Dia! | Diano! |
| essere | Sia! | Siano! |
| sapere | Sappia! | Sappiano! |
| stare | Stia! | Stiano |
Note that the same form of the verb is used for the negative formal commands.
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