What is the Formal Imperative in Italian?
We use the formal imperative when we’re giving orders in the following three contexts:
- To someone older
- To someone we don’t know very well
- To someone in a formal context
Let’s review the regular endings for the formal imperative:
| Translation | Formal Imperative | |
|---|---|---|
| parlare | to speak | parli |
| vendere | to sell | venda |
| sentire | to hear | senta |
As you might know already, the Italian imperative mood changes its conjugations depending on the form:
- Informal imperative: Addressed to the second person singular tu. It has two different conjugations, depending on whether the verb is affirmative or negative.
- Formal imperative: Addressed to the formal third person singular lei. It has one form only, for both affirmative or negative.
- Imperative with pronouns: Pronouns can be displayed in four different ways, depending on whether the verb is addressed to tu vs lei and whether it is affirmative or negative.
In today’s lesson, I will focus on the formal negative imperative.
How to use the Formal Negative Imperative?
As easy as it is, in order to form the formal negative imperative you just have to add the negative word non before the conjugated formal imperative. This mechanism works for all negative imperatives, except for the informal negative imperative with tu.
Let’s have a look at some examples:
Compri qualcosa!
Buy something.
Non compri nulla!
Don’t buy anything!
Of course, make sure you properly studied the formal affirmative imperative, because you need to properly know that conjugation to form the negative one.
