Learn Italian: Ha preso il modulo? Firmi qui, per favore. - Did you take the form? Sign here, please.

Ha preso il modulo? Firmi qui, per favore.

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Breakdown of Ha preso il modulo? Firmi qui, per favore.

please (asking for something)

Questions & Answers about Ha preso il modulo? Firmi qui, per favore.

Why does firmi end in -i if it is a formal command?

Firmare (to sign) is an -are verb. In the formal imperative mood, which you use to give polite commands to someone you call Lei, regular -are verbs take an -i ending. So, firmi means "sign!". Interestingly, the informal tu command uses the -a ending, so it would be firma.

Why does the question say Ha preso instead of Hai preso?

The speaker is addressing the person formally using Lei (the formal "you"). Because Lei grammatically acts like "he" or "she" and takes third-person singular verbs, the speaker must use ha instead of the informal hai.

If I wanted to say this informally to a friend, how would the sentence change?

You would change both verbs to their informal tu forms. It would become: Hai preso il modulo? Firma qui, per favore. Notice that both sentences have to match in tone; you cannot mix a formal question with an informal command in the same breath.

Is modulo a false friend? It looks a lot like the English word "module".

Yes, it is! While it can sometimes mean "module" in technical or scientific contexts, in everyday Italian a modulo is a blank paper form or digital document that you need to fill out, like a tax form or an application.