The third-person-singular imperative in Italian

Hi, everybody, I am Luca and this is the second part of my lesson about the most awkward error in the use of Italian congiuntivo, which I have called "l'errore di Fantozzi".

This is quite possibly the most embarrasing mistake in the use of the subjunctive mood and you should absolutely avoid it.

Like I said, this is the second part of the video. You might wanna watch the first part too, if you haven't done it already. This is especially true for those who have come to this video by chance and didn't watch the first part.

In the first part of the video I explained what this error is about. I explained why this error is particularly embarrassing.

In this video, I am gonna explain how to avoid this mistake.

(Channel Intro)

Alright. I would say that this mistake is typically presented as a mistake in the use of Italian subjunctive mood, but it may be better to present it as an error in the use of the imperative.

In what sense? In these sense that this error is related to some forms of the present subjunctive tense which are used as imperative. That is, with an imperative function.

In other words, these are congiuntivo forms with an imperative-like function. Meaning that these subjunctive forms are used to give orders or to ask someone to do something.

You surely know the imperative mood. The imperative mood is that verbal mood which is used when we want to invite someone to do something. For example, "Mangia!" is imperative. "Mangiate!" is imperative as well.

The imperative is typically explained like this: people say that the imperative mood, strictly speaking, has two forms, one for the singular and one for the plural. Namely, "Mangia" is the second-person-singular, while "Mangiate" is the second-person-plural.

When it comes to third-person -singular and plural, though, people ususally say that these forms are taken from the subjunctive mood because they are equal to those of the subjunctive mood.

If I want to ask someone to do something, I should use the second-person -singular imperative, right? But only in case I am addressing this person with TU. That is, in case I'm addressing this person informally.

By contrast, if I'm addressing this person with LEI, the issue is a bit more complex. Because I can't obviously use the second-person imperative, I should use the third -person imperative.

The error, which I have called "l'errore di Fantozzi", lies in the fact that people make a mistake when forming the third person of the imperative mood. That is, they make a mistake when they want to form the imperative using LEI.

Thing is, in some verbs this forms ends with -A, whereas in other verbs it ends in -I. Poeple get confused, make a mistake and always use the I ending.

The problem, though, is that in some verbs, these forms ends in -I, while in other verbs they end in -A. The error lies in using the ending -I in place of the ending -A.

People say that the third -person imperative is "borrowed" from the subjunctive mood. But in my opinion, in actual fact, such approach only causes confusion. I for one think that such approach is quite problematic. In my opinion, such approach actually contributes to Fantozzi's error.

And for me it's better to explain the third-person imperative as third-person imperative.

But let's jump straight into some practical examples!

Let's start from the first conjugation, that is, from verbs ending in -ARE. This is the simplest case. Let's take a look at the imperative mood of some verbs ending in ARE, paying particular attention to the third-person-singular.

For example, if I take the verb "lavare", the imperative will be "lava", second-person-singular (tu). Then, I'll have "lavate!" (exclamation mark) second-person-plural (VOI).

The most problematic person is the imperative third-person-singular, which we use when addressing someone by LEI. In the case of the verb "lavare" it will be "lavi". As you can see, there's I, it ends in -I.

If we take the verb "mangiare", we will have "mangia" (tu), "mangi" (lei), "mangiate" (voi), "mangino" (loro).

I wouldn't spend too much time talking about the third-person-plural because it is hardly ever used. Anyways, it's not problematic, because you just need to take the third -person-singular and add -NO to it.

If we consider the verb "cantare", we will have "canta", "canti", "cantate" and "cantino".

If we take "ascoltare", we will have "ascolta", "ascolti", "ascoltate" and "ascoltino".

If we take the verb "comprare", we will have "compra", "compri", "comprate", "comprino".

If we take "acquistare", we will have "acquista", "acquisti", "acquistate", "acquistino".

If we take the verb "ricordare", we will have: "ricorda", "ricordi", "ricordate", "ricordino".

If we take "cancellare", we will have "cancella", "cancelli", "cancellate", "cancellino".

If we take "trovare", we will have "trova", "trovi", "trovate", "trovino".

See the point I'm trying to make? The imperative of verbs ending in -ARE ends with the letter A in the second person and with the letter I in the third person.

Another example could be "scusare": "scusa", "scusi", "scusate", "scusino".

Now you probably understand why we can say both "scusa" and "scusi". If we say "scusa", it means that we are addressing this person by TU, if we say "scusi", it means that we are addressing them by LEI.

Before I move on to the next conjugation, I wanted to point out two things.

Ok. The first one concerns pronouns. In case there's a pronoun, in case there's the pronoun "me", the imperative will be "Scusami" (second-person-singular), "Mi scusi", "Scusatemi", and "Mi scusino".

Can you see the difference? In the third-person -singular and plural, the pronoun is moved before the verb.

The same applies to reflexive verbs, right?

For example, if I have the verb "lavarsi", the imperative will be "lavati", "si lavi", "lavatevi" and "si lavino". In this case as well, in the third person, the pronoun is moved before the verb, that is, it is put before the verb.

If we take the verb "comprarsi", we get: "comprati", "si compri", "compratevi" and "si comprino".

If we take the verb "mangiare", we get "mangiati", "si mangi", "mangiatevi" and "si mangino".

Like I said, I'm also telling you the third-person-plural form, but in actual fact you will hardly ever hear or use it.

Similarly, if we have the verb "cancellare", reflexive version "cancellarsi", its forms will be: "cancellati", "si cancelli", "cancellatevi" and "si cancellino".

Another very useful example could be the verb "accomodarsi". So, if we have "accomodarsi", verb forms will be: "accomodati", if we use TU, and "si accomodi" if we use LEI.

So, well, the first thing that I wanted to say concerns precisely this, that is, the use of pronouns. The pronoun, in the third-person-singular and third-person-plural form is moved before the verb. But you probably already knew this, you quite possibly know the form "scusami" and the form "mi scusi", and noticed the difference.

The second thing I wanted to say concerns four very important and very common verbs which have rather peculiar forms. These verbs are "fare", "dare", "stare" and "andare".

Let's examine each separately.

Alright. Let's start from "fare". The imperative of "fare" is FA' (second-person-singular), the third person is "faccia", then "fate" and "facciano".

Alright. Properly speaking, the second-person-singular imperative should be FA', but many people in today's Italian say "fai" and use "fai" as imperative. That is, properly speaking it should be "Fa' come credi", but everybody says "Fai come credi".

But what interests us here is the third -person-singular, that is, "faccia". What's the mistake made famous by Fantozzi's movies? The mistake lies in saying "facci". So the verb "fare" in the third-person-singular imperative ends in -A, not in -I.

And in Fantozzi's movies I remember there was a scene, where one character said: "Ragioniere, mi facci il piacere!". So he said "facci", but he should have said "faccia".

Next there's the verb "dare", which is also quite peculiar. Its forms are: Da' or "dai", "dia", "date" and "diano".

What's the error made famous by Fantozzi's movies? The error lies in saying "dii". Not "mi dia", but "mi dii" with 2 Is.

Next, there's the verb "andare" and the forms of the verb "andare" are Va' or "vai", "vada", "andate" and "vadano". The error made famous by Fantozzi's films lies in saying "Vadi!". That is, "vadi" instead of "vada".

For example, I remember a scene where one character said: "Vadi ragioniere, vadi!". Or: "Vadi, vadi, vadi pure!".

Next, there's the verb "stare". The imperative of "stare" is "stia": "stia" - not "stii". I don't remember if in Fantozzi's movies they made this mistake. Anyways, the error is saying "stii" with two Is, instead of "stia". So the verbs "dare" and "stare" are similar from this point of view.

Well, as you have seen, on the whole verbs ending in -ARE are not problematic, because anyway verbs ending in -ARE will have the desinence -I.

There are just four problematic verbs ending -ARE, namely: "dare", "fare", "stare" and "andare".

But let's go to verbs ending in -ERE!

For verbs ending in -ERE e -IRE, click here!