Learn Hardcore Italian: Proteggi il parquet con il telo.

Breakdown of Proteggi il parquet con il telo.

Is Proteggi a command or just you protect?

It is a command here: Proteggi is the informal singular imperative of proteggere (to protect).

A useful thing to know is that for many verbs, the tu imperative looks exactly like the normal tu present tense form. So:

In this sentence, the context makes it clear that it is an instruction or command.

Who is this command addressed to?

It is addressed to one person informally, using tu.

So Proteggi il parquet con il telo means you are telling one person: Protect the parquet with the sheet/cover.

Other versions would be:

Why is there no subject pronoun like tu?

In Italian, subject pronouns are often left out because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

So instead of saying:

Italian normally just says:

Adding tu is possible, but it usually adds emphasis, contrast, or impatience, depending on tone.