Italian Subject Pronouns: io, tu, lui, lei and the Polite Form «Lei»

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Anyone who starts learning Italian soon asks two questions: do I always have to say “io”, “tu”, “lui”? and when should I say “tu” and when “Lei”? In this lesson you will answer both. You will learn the personal subject pronouns, understand why in Italian they are almost always left out, and discover how the polite form works, one of the most important aspects of everyday communication. You will need the verbs you have already seen: essere and avere, the present tense of -are verbs and the present tense of -ere verbs.

Personal subject pronouns

Personal pronouns designate the people involved in communication: the first person (io) is the speaker, the second (tu) is the listener, the third (lui, lei) is the person or thing being talked about ^[1]. The subject forms are seven:

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	io (I)	noi (we)
2nd	tu (you)	voi (you, plural)
3rd	lui (he), lei (she)	loro (they)

In formal written language, especially literary, you will also find egli, ella, essi, esse: in speech and everyday language people use lui, lei and loro ^[1]. For things, Italian has no pronoun like English it: you simply say È un libro. (It is a book.) È tardi. (It is late.) Piove. (It is raining.)

In Italian the subject pronoun is dropped

As you saw in the lessons on verbs, the verb ending already shows the person: parlo is “I”, parli is “you”, parliamo is “we”. For this reason in Italian the subject pronoun is usually omitted:

• Sono Marco. (I am Marco. – not “Io sono Marco”, unless you want to stress it)
• Abito a Lugano e lavoro in banca. (I live in Lugano and work in a bank.)
• Parlate italiano? (Do you speak Italian?)

You use the pronoun instead when there is a contrast or emphasis, or when the verb form is ambiguous:

• Io parlo tedesco, lei parla italiano. (I speak German, she speaks Italian.) – contrast
• Chi ha fatto la spesa? – Io! (Who did the shopping? – I did!) – emphatic answer
• Che cosa fai tu? E tu? (What do you do? And you?) – questions to a new person
• Lui è di Roma, lei è di Milano. (He is from Rome, she is from Milan.) – distinguishing two people

Three verbs, six persons

Pronoun	essere (to be)	parlare (to speak)	vivere (to live)
io	sono	parlo	vivo
tu	sei	parli	vivi
lui / lei / Lei	è	parla	vive
noi	siamo	parliamo	viviamo
voi	siete	parlate	vivete
loro	sono	parlano	vivono

Note that lui, lei and the polite Lei use the same verb form: the third person singular.

Tu or Lei? Two ways of addressing someone

The pronouns used to address the person you are talking to are called address pronouns (pronomi allocutivi). Contemporary Italian has two main forms: the reciprocal tu, reserved for informal relationships (friends, family, colleagues you see regularly), and the reciprocal Lei, for formal relationships ^[2]. Today’s system is simpler than in the past: until the 1300s there were only tu and voi, Lei appears in the 1400s and spreads between the 1500s and 1600s ^[2]. Current usage tends towards simplification, and therefore towards the two-way tu / Lei system ^[3].

I use «tu» with…	I use «Lei» with…
friends and family	people I don’t know
children and teenagers	customers, patients, passengers
people my age in informal situations	people older than me
colleagues I work with every day	university professors, managers, doctors
chats, social networks, online games	work emails, official letters, banks and offices

In recent decades tu has widened its range of use, especially in public and digital communication ^[2][3]. When you are not sure, use Lei: it is less risky to go from Lei to tu (usually the other person suggests it: Possiamo darci del tu, “Shall we use tu?”) than the other way round.

How to use the polite «Lei»

The polite Lei is formally the third person singular and applies to both a man and a woman. The verb is in the third person singular, as with lui and lei. By convention, in writing a capital letter is used (Lei, Le, Loro, Voi) to distinguish polite pronouns from the others ^[3].

With «tu»	With «Lei»
Come ti chiami? (What’s your name?)	Come si chiama?
Di dove sei? (Where are you from?)	Di dov’è?
Che lavoro fai? (What do you do?)	Che lavoro fa?
Hai una prenotazione? (Do you have a booking?)	Ha una prenotazione?
Parli italiano? (Do you speak Italian?)	Parla italiano?
Prendi un caffè? (Will you have a coffee?)	Prende un caffè?
Dove abiti? (Where do you live?)	Dove abita?
Come stai? (How are you?)	Come sta?

Adjectives and participles that refer to Lei agree with the sex of the person you are talking to, not with the grammatical gender of the pronoun: to a man you say Lei è stanco?, to a woman Lei è stanca? ^[4].

What about «voi»?

Voi is first of all the plural of tu: Siete di Zurigo? is said to two or more people you are familiar with. Voi as a polite form for a single person is today common throughout southern Italy, even among young people, while in northern Italy it does not carry a special value of respect ^[4]. For a single formal person, if in doubt, always use Lei: it is the standard form and it works all over Italy and Switzerland. For several formal people voi is usually used; the polite plural Loro is very formal and is heard almost only in very distinguished contexts.

Mini-dialogues: the same scene, two registers

Between friends (tu):
Giulia: Ciao, io sono Giulia. Tu come ti chiami?
Paolo: Sono Paolo. Di dove sei?
Giulia: Sono di Bellinzona, ma vivo a Lugano. E tu?
Paolo: Io sono di Milano e lavoro qui da due anni.

At the office (Lei):
Segretaria: Buongiorno, come si chiama?
Cliente: Mi chiamo Paolo Bianchi. Ho un appuntamento con il dottor Rossi.
Segretaria: Perfetto. Di dov’è, signor Bianchi? Parla italiano?
Cliente: Sono di Zurigo, ma parlo italiano. Lei è di Lugano?
Segretaria: Sì, vivo qui da molti anni. Prende un caffè mentre aspetta?

In English: in the first dialogue Giulia and Paolo introduce themselves informally and say where they are from. In the second, the secretary asks the client his name, where he is from and whether he speaks Italian, then offers him a coffee while he waits, always using the polite Lei.

The most common mistakes

• Always saying “io”, “tu”: in Italian the pronoun is dropped, except for contrast or emphasis. “Io sono Maria, io abito a Roma, io lavoro…” sounds very heavy.
• “Signora, come stai?”: with a formal person you say Come sta?
• “Lei parli bene”: with Lei the verb is in the third person: Lei parla bene.
• “Voi sei di Roma?”: with voi the verb is second person plural: Voi siete di Roma?
• Going from Lei to tu without warning: if you started with Lei, wait for the other person to suggest tu.
• Forgetting the agreement: Lei è stanco (to a man), Lei è stanca (to a woman).

Exercise 1: from «tu» to «Lei»

1. Come ti chiami?
2. Di dove sei?
3. Che lavoro fai?
4. Hai una prenotazione?
5. Parli italiano?
6. Dove abiti?
7. Prendi un caffè?
8. Sei stanco?

Answers: 1. Come si chiama? – 2. Di dov’è? – 3. Che lavoro fa? – 4. Ha una prenotazione? – 5. Parla italiano? – 6. Dove abita? – 7. Prende un caffè? – 8. È stanco? (or È stanca?, to a woman).

Exercise 2: tu or Lei?

Write the form you would normally use in each situation.

1. You talk to your sister.
2. You talk to the manager of your bank.
3. You talk to an elderly neighbour you don’t know.
4. You talk to a colleague you work with every day.
5. You write an email to a university professor.

Answers: 1. tu – 2. Lei – 3. Lei – 4. usually tu – 5. Lei.

Exercise 3: find the mistake

1. Signora, come stai?
2. Lei parli molto bene l’italiano.
3. Voi sei di Roma?
4. Io sono Marco e io abito a Lugano e io lavoro in banca.
5. Marco è svizzero, io sono italiana.

Answers: 1. Signora, come sta? 2. Lei parla molto bene l’italiano. 3. Voi siete di Roma? 4. Sono Marco, abito a Lugano e lavoro in banca. 5. Correct (here io shows contrast).

Think about it: imagine meeting your new neighbour (an elderly person) and then someone your own age. Write two six-line mini-dialogues with the same questions: the first with Lei, the second with tu.

Keep learning

• The verbs essere and avere
• The present tense of -are verbs
• Italian questions and negation
• Italian grammar course A1

Let’s practise together

Choosing between tu and Lei is learnt by talking with a native speaker. Book a free trial lesson or check your level with the free test. For a structured path, join the course waiting list.

Sources

• [1] “Personali, pronomi”, Enciclopedia dell’Italiano, Treccani (accessed 24 October 2026)
• [2] “Lei, uso del”, La grammatica italiana, Treccani (accessed 24 October 2026)
• [3] Piera Molinelli, “Allocutivi, pronomi”, Enciclopedia dell’Italiano, Treccani (accessed 24 October 2026)
• [4] “Allocutivi [prontuario]”, Enciclopedia dell’Italiano, Treccani (accessed 24 October 2026)

Tables, dialogues and exercises come from my experience teaching Italian to foreign learners.