Most people who move to Italy for work speak English in meetings and freeze at the coffee machine. The reverse is also common: fluent at lunch, lost in a formal email. This guide covers both ends: the written formulas nobody teaches you and the spoken habits that make an office run.
Tu or Lei: the first decision
Italian offices are less formal than their emails suggest. Colleagues use tu with each other from day one. With a manager, a client or someone clearly senior, start with Lei and the surname (dottor Ferri, signora Conti) and wait: the moment they say Diamoci del tu (let's use tu), switch. Being too formal is a small mistake; being too informal with a client is a bigger one.
The work email, formula by formula
Italian business emails are more formulaic than English ones. Use the formulas and they read as native.
| Part | Formal | With a colleague |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | Gentile Dott.ssa Rossi, / Buongiorno, | Ciao Marco, / Buongiorno Marco, |
| Why you write | Le scrivo in merito a… | Ti scrivo per… |
| Attaching | In allegato trova il documento. | Ti allego il file. |
| Asking | Le chiedo gentilmente di… | Mi mandi… quando puoi? |
| Waiting for a reply | Resto in attesa di un Suo riscontro. | Fammi sapere. |
| Closing | Cordiali saluti, / Distinti saluti, | A presto, / Buona giornata, |
Two details: capital Le, Suo in formal emails is old-fashioned but still common in Italy; and riscontro simply means reply. If in doubt, Cordiali saluti closes everything.
In a meeting
Italian meetings start late, run long and involve interruption; that is participation, not rudeness. Phrases that let you take part:
Posso aggiungere una cosa? Scusate, non ho capito l'ultimo punto. Potete ripetere? Secondo me dovremmo rimandare la decisione. Facciamo il punto: chi fa cosa entro venerdì?
Fare il punto (to sum up) and entro (by, for deadlines) are the two most useful work words in Italian. Rimandare means to postpone; anticipare to bring forward.