Every day is different at work, and you must be ready to deal with any situation! 

Being proactive and moreover not being afraid of giving your opinion, will surely be appreciated. 


Do you know what is the best way to make a suggestion in Italian? 

Today I will tell you 7 effective ways to give some advice in Italian to help you sound polite so as not to offend other people’s points of view and to avoid conflicts. 


To give you a clearer overview, let’s play a role game together. 

Suppose you are working for a company as a digital marketing manager, and you were invited to participate in a meeting about the new advertising campaign your team is working on for the coming winter season. The digital marketing team is presenting the main points of this campaign, but your boss does not look to be convinced about what is presented. 


You think there is something missing as well in their presentation, but you do not want to interrupt, as you know it might be perceived as rude by others, thus, you wait for your colleagues to finish their presentation. Right after a brief pause follows and that is the moment you raise your hand and start telling what you think about it. 


1. “Posso dire la mia?” (Can I make a suggestion?) 

This is the perfect way to start. It is a polite way to grab other’s attention, and at the same time, it is a nice way to sort of put feelers out, to be sure you will be listened to carefully. The floor is all yours and you can go ahead with point no.2. 


2. “Secondo me dovremmo (We should) sfruttare il potenziale dei social media per quanto riguarda il lancio del nuovo prodotto.” 

You are now using the conditional mood! 

In this case, I have used the verb dovere, but I could have used also the verb potere: “Forse potremmo (We could…) integrare la nostra strategia omnichannel includendo anche i social media” 

The conditional is a nice and polite way to make requests and express suggestions. You do not want to sound bossy indeed!


At this point, the whole room stares at you and you feel a little bit under pressure. But your boss seems interested in hearing a different point of view and opinion. So you continue with your suggestions: 


3. “Avete provato a (Have we/you tried...?) fare una ricerca di mercato per capire l’approccio della Gen Z su un prodotto così innovativo?” 

You are putting your cards on the table, asking what data your colleagues have collected, trying to understand, and suggesting a new approach. 

After receiving the marketing team’s response and your boss's opinion about their approach, you could suggest a new point of view. And no. 4 is a nice way to do so. 


4. “Che ne dite di (How about...?) creare una pagina Instagram solo per il prodotto? Come se questi avesse una propria personalità. Questo ci permetterà sicuramente di distinguerci dalla concorrenza.” 

Here, again you are suggesting new perspectives. Instead of making just a list of new points, this is a nice way to continue presenting other bullet points to your discourse. 

And you can go on with the next one. 


5. “Io al posto vostro (If I were you...) punterei su una comunicazione più leggera ed immediata con contenuti più brevi e di facile fruizione”. 


In this way, you are emphasizing your personal opinion! If you were in their shoes, what would you do?  

And you can continue with the next two points: 


6. “Perché non (Why don’t we/you...?) provate a coinvolgere anche la concorrenza?” 7. “Addirittura, si potrebbe pensare a (We/You might think about...) una partnership con loro!” The audience is hypnotized! 

You made your points and presented your ideas with respect for others’ opinions and in a very diplomatic way! Good job! 


Now is your turn to test what you’ve acquired from today! 

I will give you 5 sentences… what suggestion would you give to these people? 

Follow the structure of the 7 points we’ve seen so far! 


1- Il tuo collega vorrebbe imparare il cinese, ma non sa da dove iniziare. 

2- Claudio sta cercando lavoro sugli annunci dei giornali, ma non sta trovando niente di interessante. 3- Sabrina si è trasferita a Parigi per lavoro, ma non conosce il francese 

4- Diana è una brava scrittrice, ma non riesce a trovare una casa editrice che voglia pubblicare il suo primo romanzo 

5- Paolo è alla fine del terzo anno di ingegneria, ma ha ancora 9 esami da dare prima di laurearsi. 


Good! That’s all for today’s lesson. 

Thank you for reading this article! 

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Ciao!