Lei parla con se stessa in giardino.

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Breakdown of Lei parla con se stessa in giardino.

• il giardino: the garden
• con: with
• parlare: to talk

Questions & Answers about Lei parla con se stessa in giardino.

Does Lei mean “she” or “you (formal)” here?

It can mean either. Italian Lei is both the third‑person singular feminine pronoun (“she”) and the formal second‑person pronoun (“you”). The phrase con se stessa only tells us the person is female; it doesn’t disambiguate between “she” and “you (formal, to a woman).” Context decides. At the start of a sentence, capitalization doesn’t help because the first word is capitalized anyway.

Why is the verb parla in the third person even if Lei can mean “you (formal)”?

Because formal Lei always takes third‑person singular verb forms. So:

• She: Lei parla…
• You (formal): Lei parla… Same verb form; context tells you which one.

Could I drop the subject and just say Parla con se stessa in giardino?

Yes—Italian often drops subject pronouns. But doing so makes the sentence even more ambiguous (it could be “she” or “you (formal)”). In real conversations it’s fine because context clarifies; in isolation, keep Lei if you want to signal the subject.

Why not say Lei si parla?