As we saw in a previous lesson, Italians are very conscious of formal and informal greetings, and will say hello in different ways depending on the situation. But there’s more. When speaking or writing to someone they must, or want, to treat with respect, they’ll use the polite form of “you”—Lei. This happens to be identical to the word for “she,” lei. To show respect, Lei gets capitalized, together with its possessive pronouns Sua, Sue, Suoi (your, yours) and its object pronouns La and Le (you). Although the capitalization of these pronouns is going out of style, it can be helpful for figuring out who is being talked about. Using the formal “you” is called dare del Lei (giving the formal “you”). The opposite is called dare del tu (giving the informal “you”).  

BANNER PLACEHOLDER

In Ma che ci faccio qui! (But What Am I Doing Here?), Alessio finds himself in an embarrassing situation. (Yes, he’s about to fare brutta figura!) Things have gotten decidedly intimo, but Alessio da ancora del Lei (is still giving the formal “you”) to this woman, and she calls him out on it.

Ma che fai, mi dai ancora del Lei?

What are you doing, you still address me formally?

Caption 39, Ma che ci faccio qui! - Un film di Francesco Amato

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In an episode of Commissario Manara, Lara is trying to get some information from a woman in shock over the death of her employer. Lara uses Lei since she is addressing someone older than her, and whom she doesn’t know. Lara sees the woman is touchy on the subject at hand so she immediately apologizes, even though she’s done nothing wrong.

When the personal pronoun in question is an object, either direct or indirect, it can become part of the verb, as we’ve talked about in a previous lesson. In the example below, the polite “you” is a direct object of the verb offendere (to offend), and becomes part of it (with a respectful capital letter in this case).

Mi scusi, non volevo offenderLa.

I'm sorry, I didn't want to offend you.

Caption 57, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP4 - Le Lettere Di Leopardi

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In another episode, Luca Manara is being polite to his boss, but only on the surface. In this case, the indirect object pronoun is part of the compound verb, riferire a (to report to).

Ma, come, purtroppo Lei mi ricorda,

But, since, unfortunately you remind me,

io devo riferirLe tutto, no?

I have to tell you everything, don't I?

-Si aspetta magari che le dica bravo?

-Maybe you're expecting me say, "Good work?"

Captions 25-26, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP2 - Vendemmia tardiva

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In the concluding segment of “Vendemmia tardiva,” la zia, as usual, uses her powers of conversazione and intuizione femminile to help solve the crime:

Avevo capito che, in tutti questi anni, è stata innamorata di lui.

I'd figured out that, for all these years, she'd been in love with him.

E per trent'anni gli ha dato del Lei,

And for thirty years she addressed him formally,

ma ti rendi conto?

can you imagine that?

Captions 5-6, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP2 - Vendemmia tardiva

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Dare del tu (to address informally) or dare del Lei (to address formally) is an important aspect to settle in a new relationship. A common question to ask is: ci possiamo dare del tu? (can we give each other the informal "you?") or, ci diamo del tu? (shall we give each other the informal “you?”). The answer is almost always: sì, certo!