How exactly do you say where are you from in Italian? What’s more appropriate to say depending on the relationship between you and the other person?
In this lesson, we will take a look at the different ways you can translate this sentence into Italian. Read on to learn them all!
Da…?
Where…?
Let’s start! Iniziamo!
How do you say where are you from in Italian?
Singular: Di dove sei?
Di dove sei? is how you translate where are you from in Italian when you are addressing only one person you know well, such as a friend or a relative.
Di dove sei?
Where are you from? (singular, informal)
This common sentence in Italian is made of only three elements.
Di
Of
Dove
Where
Sei
Are you
Di dove sei? – Sono giapponese. E tu?
Where are you from? – I’m Japanese. How about you?
Di dove sei? – Sono di Venezia. Piacere di conoscerti!
Where are you from? – I’m from Venice. Nice to meet you!
If you want to say you are from a given country, use the nationality:
sono… (I am)
- americano / americana (American, male / female)
- inglese (British)
- francese (French)
- tedesco / tedesca (German, male / female)
- spagnolo / spagnola (Spanish, male /female)
- cinese (Chinese)
- russo / russa (Russian, male / female)
- egiziano / egiziana (Egyptian, male / female)
- etc.
If you want to say you are from a given city, use the preposition di + the name of the city itself in Italian:
sono… (I am)
- di Roma (from Rome)
- di New York (from New York)
- di Londra (from London)
- di Parigi (from Paris)
- di Madrid (from Madrid)
- di Mosca (from Moscow)
- etc.
We’ll see what other alternatives are there to introduce what country or city you are from in the next paragraphs.
As you might already know, Italian verb endings change for all subject pronouns, so that you can actually do without the pronouns in the sentence. The subject will be understood thanks to the verb ending!
Sei is a conjugation of the verb essere, meaning to be. Sei is basically the second person singular present conjugation of essere. This is an irregular verb.
Present tense conjugation for essere
| io | sono |
| tu | sei |
| lui, lei | è |
| noi | siamo |
| voi | siete |
| loro | sono |
For example, you could say…
È l’una del pomeriggio.
It is one o’clock in the afternoon.
I miei genitori non sono in casa al momento.
My parents are not home at the moment.
Io e Luca siamo sposati dal 1996.
Luke and I have been married since 1996.
Now, what do you have to say to ask where are you from in Italian to more than one person at a time? You will need to conjugate the verb essere in the second person plural. You might already be able to guess what that is from the table above, but let’s see what this form is exactly in the next paragraph.
Plural: Di dove siete?
Di dove siete? is how you translate where are you from in Italian when you are addressing groups of people, in both formal and informal situations.
Di dove siete?
Where are you from? (plural)
Italian has two kinds of “you”, unlike English. There’s a singular “you” and then there’s a plural “you”. If you are addressing two or more friends, you will need to conjugate the verb essere according to the latter pronoun, which is voi.
From the table in the previous paragraph, you can see that the conjugation you have to use is voi siete.
Di dove siete, ragazzi? – Siamo di Berlino.
Where are you guys from? – We are from Berlin.
Di dove siete? – Siamo egiziani.
Where are you from? – We are from Egypt.
Now, how do you say where are you from in Italian when you need to be formal? Keep on reading to find out!
Polite: Di dov’è?
If you are just visiting Italy and often meet new people, unless you both agree on using the informal pronoun tu you will have to stick to the formal pronoun Lei when talking to other adults and people you are not on familiar terms with. With kids, it’s customary to use tu, no matter the degree of familiarity.
So, how do you formally ask where are you from in Italian to one person at a time?
Di dov’è?
Where are you from? (formal)
More commonly though, you will find these expressions instead:
Lei di dov’è?
Where are you from? (formal)
Di dov’è lei?
Where are you from? (formal)
This is because di dov’è is the contracted form of di dove è, which can also be translated as where is it/he/she from. To avoid all confusion, the formal subject pronoun Lei is added to the sentence.
This question uses the third-person singular conjugation. Basically, when speaking formally, Italians address each other with the subject “she”, lei.
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Da dove vieni?
The verb venire literally means to come and it’s another translation for where are you from in Italian, literally translating to “where do you come from?”. It’s as equally used as the other expressions that we’re already seen.
Da dove vieni?
Where are you from? (informal, singular)
Da dove venite?
Where are you from? (plural)
Lei da dove viene?
Where are you from? (formal)
What differs is the answer you’ll give.
When you want to say you are from a given country or city, you have to use the preposition da + the name of the country or city itself.
Beware! When you are introducing a country by its name in Italian, you will always need to add its definite article to the sentence. You don’t need to add any articles when introducing cities.
vengo… (I come)
- dall’America (from America)
- dall’Inghilterra (from England)
- dalla Francia (from France)
- dalla Germania (from Germany)
- dalla Spagna (from Spain)
- dalla Cina (from China)
- dalla Russia (from Russia)
- dall’Egitto (from Egypt)
- da Roma (from Rome)
- da New York (from New York)
- da Parigi (from Paris)
- da Pechino (from Beijing)
- etc.
And that’s it, now you know how to say where are you from in Italian in all its forms!
What next?
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