What are common ways to show politeness in Italian conversations

Common ways to show politeness in Italian conversations include using formal address, polite expressions, and respectful language structures. Italians often use the formal pronoun Lei when speaking to strangers, elders, or in professional settings, rather than the informal tu. Polite phrases such as per favore (please), grazie (thank you), and mi scusi or scusi (excuse me) are commonly used to show respect and consideration. Additionally, Italian speakers tend to use softened requests with modal verbs like potrebbe (could you) or vorrei (I would like) to make their speech more courteous. Using titles (such as Signore or Signora) along with surnames also adds a layer of formality and politeness in conversations. These strategies reflect the importance Italians place on social hierarchy, respect, and maintaining harmony in interactions. ¹

References

• The doctrine of the mean. Conversation in courtesy manuals from early modernity to the present

• Italian ma ‘but’ in deverbal pragmatic markers: Forms, functions, and productivity of a pragma-dyad

• Comparing Styles across Languages: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Politeness

• A Pragmatic Analysis on Politeness Strategies Used in Online Class

• TyDiP: A Dataset for Politeness Classification in Nine Typologically Diverse Languages