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07:21 Nov 10, 2004
Italian to Italian translations [PRO] Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Italian term or phrase:lei vs Lei
Dear Sirs,
I'd like to ask for your advise concerning the use of Italisan pronouns lei, suo, sua, suoi, sue, when they refer to a formal 'you' (like 'usted' in Spanish) should they be given in capital letters or not. I know there are a lot of opinions. I'd like to get some kind of an expert's advise. I've been told the capital letters are mostly used in business correspondence and it's a bit archaical for a common speech. And some of my collegues say it's essencial to follow the rules anyway. However, what would you recommend to use in a General Phrasebook for English-speaking persons. Should it be given in capitals since it's a kind of a learning tool also, so the people should get accustomed to gramatically correct spelling or it's not so important in Italian.
I'd appreciate your suggestions. Thank you very much in advance.
Explanation: There is a simple reason behind the use of capital letters for Lei, Suo, Sua and so on: it is a way to tell them from 3rd person pronouns and adjectives lei, suo, sua... (she, his, her...). Capital letters should even be used within composite words like inviarLe (send to you), chiamarLa (call you) and so on. It is a point that most people tend to forget it using lower cases, but I think there is no reason to contribute to bad grammatical habits :)
il Devoto cita esplicitamente "Dare del lei a qualcuno". Non vorrei che sui libri di testo fosse in qualche modo "evidenziato" a scopo didattico. E comunque penso che converrai con me che sui libri non si trova.Tutto ci lo dico solo per aiutare un colleg
Scusate se scrivo qui, ma non ho pi spazio. Io ho notato che spesso si trova Lei maiuscolo, come ad esempio qui http://www.locuta.com/forme.htm, ma non "parlarLe". Si veda anche http://www.iluss.it/grammatica_free/cortesia_free_demo/text.htm. Inoltre
14:04 Nov 10, 2004
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14 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +11
lei vs lei
Capital letters
Explanation: There is a simple reason behind the use of capital letters for Lei, Suo, Sua and so on: it is a way to tell them from 3rd person pronouns and adjectives lei, suo, sua... (she, his, her...). Capital letters should even be used within composite words like inviarLe (send to you), chiamarLa (call you) and so on. It is a point that most people tend to forget it using lower cases, but I think there is no reason to contribute to bad grammatical habits :)
Arturo Mannino Local time: 13:29 Native speaker of: Italian PRO pts in category: 2
The translation workplace 
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peer agreement (net): +11