By C1, you already know tu (informal) and Lei (formal) exist. What matters now is judgment: native speakers constantly calibrate register based on age, hierarchy, and setting — and getting it slightly wrong reads as either cold or presumptuous.
The unwritten rules
- Younger colleagues often use tu with each other immediately, even at work.
- Lei never fully disappears with doctors, professors, or anyone significantly older — even in casual industries.
- It's polite to let the older or higher-status person propose switching to tu — dare del tu.
Possiamo darci del tu?
A genuinely useful phrase — asking permission to drop formality is itself a very Italian social move.
Vocabulary in this lesson
dare del tu
to address someone informally
Ci diamo del tu?
dare del Lei
to address someone formally
In ufficio do del Lei al capo.
confidenza
familiarity/closeness
Non abbiamo abbastanza confidenza.
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