Italian imperativo: giving instructions without sounding rude

How the imperativo is formed

For -are verbs the tu form ends in -a (parla); for -ere and -ire verbs it ends in -i (credi, dormi). This is the reverse of the present indicative, where -are takes -i, a swap that catches people out constantly.

The noi and voi forms are identical to the present indicative: parliamo, parlate.

The negative tu command is not an imperative at all. It's non plus the infinitive: non parlare!, non andare!. Noi and voi negate normally: non parliamo, non parlate.

Five common verbs have short tu forms with an apostrophe: va' (andare), da' (dare), fa' (fare), sta' (stare), di' (dire). The full forms vai, dai, fai, stai also exist and are equally correct, except for di', which has no long variant.

Unstressed pronouns attach to the end of tu, noi and voi imperatives: dimmi, parlagli, andiamoci, ascoltatemi. After the five short forms, the pronoun's initial consonant doubles: da' + mi = dammi, fa' + lo = fallo, di' + mi = dimmi. The single exception is gli, which never doubles: dagli.

With the formal Lei, pronouns go before the verb instead: mi dica, not dicami.

Common mistakes