CONSTRUCTION OF THE POLITENESS FORM

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The politeness or courtesy form is used to speak with a formal stile when person one is talking to is unknown or when we are not in intimacy or familiarity with him/her.

In the courtesy form we use the subject Lei for the singular masculine and feminine and the subject Loro for the plural masculine and feminine.
The variable parts referred to the subject (pronouns, possessiveadjectives) are in third person.
The verb is in third person singular (referred to "Lei") or plural (referred to "Loro").

Examples:
" Ciao Marco, come stai? E come stanno tua mamma, e i tuoi bambini? "
In this example the person speaking uses an informal stile and uses the subject TU to ask questions.

" Buongiorno Signor Rossi, Lei come sta? E come stanno sua mamma e i suoi bambini? "
In this example the person speaking uses a formal stile and uses the subject LEI: in the sentence the pronoun, the verb and the possessive adjective change.

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