Questions & Answers about Confessa la verità.
In this sentence, confessa is most naturally understood as the informal singular imperative: a command directed to tu.
So it is the tu command form of confessare.
A useful detail: for most -are verbs, the tu imperative looks exactly like the lui/lei present form:
- tu confessa! = confess!
- lui/lei confessa = he/she confesses
So confessa can be grammatically ambiguous by itself, but in a short standalone sentence like this, it is usually read as a command.
Italian often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb ending already makes the subject clear.
So instead of saying:
- Tu confessa la verità
Italian normally just says:
- Confessa la verità
This is especially common with commands. Adding tu would usually be unnecessary, and sometimes it can sound extra emphatic.
Yes, confessa can also be the third-person singular present indicative of confessare, so in the right context it could mean he/she confesses.
However, as a standalone sentence beginning with a capital letter and used on its own, it is very likely intended as an imperative.
Context normally tells you which meaning is intended.