C2 · Fine points and style
Register: officialese and conversation
Both registers are correct — just not in the same text.
At a glance
- Remember
- Both registers are correct — mixed, both sound wrong.
- Form
- vendesifor sale
- Signal words
- vendesi
- affittasi
- ai sensi di
- si prega di
- in merito a
- Trap
- Wrong:Ho parlato con la dottoressa Neri e gli ho spiegato il problema.Right:Ho parlato con la dottoressa Neri e le ho spiegato il problema.
Your turn
5 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
The forms and what they mean
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Italian.
| for sale | vendesi |
| to let | affittasi |
| the applicant | il richiedente |
| the regulations in force | la normativa vigente |
| the application is to be submitted | la domanda va presentata |
| under, pursuant to | ai sensi di |
| you are kindly requested to | si prega di |
| I am hungry (spoken) | c’ho fame |
| the coffee, I will have it later | il caffè lo prendo dopo |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
In advertisements si is attached to the end of the verb.
Affittasi monolocale in centro.Studio flat to let in the centre.
Officialese expresses obligation with andare plus participle.
La domanda va presentata entro il 30 giugno.The application is to be submitted by 30 June.
A written request is impersonal.
Si prega di non lasciare i bagagli incustoditi.Please do not leave luggage unattended.
Conversation brings the object forward and picks it up with a pronoun.
Il caffè lo prendo dopo.The coffee, I will have it later.
Example sentences
Cercasi cameriere con esperienza.Experienced waiter wanted.
Ai sensi della normativa vigente, il negozio resta chiuso.Under the regulations in force, the shop remains closed.
In merito alla Sua richiesta, Le comunichiamo quanto segue.With regard to your request, we would inform you as follows.
Le chiavi le ho lasciate sul tavolo.The keys, I left them on the table.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
What passes in conversation stands out in an e-mail to an authority or an employer. The clearest example is gli for a woman: in speech you will hear gli ho detto about a female colleague too, and since you will hear it often, it is easy to adopt. In writing it counts as a mistake; there it is le ho detto, exactly as English keeps her apart from him.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
One content, two languages: what in conversation is qui non si può parcheggiare appears on the sign as divieto di sosta and in the official notice as è fatto divieto di sostare. Written administrative Italian has forms of its own that you need to be able to read, even if you will hardly ever write them. The distance between the two is greater than between English officialese and English speech.
Typical of the formal written register: si tacked on in advertisements (vendesi, affittasi, cercasi — for sale, to let, wanted), the present participle as a noun or adjective (il richiedente, la normativa vigente), obligation with andare plus participle (la domanda va presentata, the application is to be submitted), phrases such as in merito a, ai sensi di, a seguito di, and the impersonal request (si prega di, you are kindly requested to).
Typical of conversation: the object brought to the front and picked up by a pronoun (il caffè lo prendo dopo), c’ho for ho (spoken only, hardly ever written), gli for to them and often for to her as well, and the indicative where writing expects the congiuntivo (penso che è tardi).
At this level the point is not to avoid one side but not to mix them. A letter to an authority with c’ho in it is as odd as an evening among friends with ai sensi di. And some things that are perfectly normal in speech count as mistakes in writing — gli for a woman is the commonest example.
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