Negotiating salary: Asking for a higher salary politely

💬 Pure here doesn't mean "also". It softens the phrase into a friendly "please, go on".

💬 Lavoro is both "I work" and the noun "job". Context tells you which.

💬 For something still going on, Italian uses the present tense + da: lavoro qui da due anni, literally "I work here since two years". Same with abito a Roma da un anno "I've lived in Rome for a year".

💬 Words ending in -tà like responsabilità stay the same in the plural. Same with città "city/cities".

💬 Lei here means a polite "you", even though it's the same word as "she". The verb matches: lavora, not lavori.

💬 Chiedere already means "ask for", so no extra word is needed before un aumento. Similarly, chiedere un giorno libero means "ask for a day off".

🇮🇹 Linking the request to your track record with per questo is the expected way to frame it. A bare demand without reasons would come across as pushy.

💬 Quanto can stand alone as "how much". Chiede is the polite "you ask", the same form as "he/she asks".

💬 Percentages take "the" in Italian: il dieci per cento, which becomes al dieci per cento after a.

💬 Pensavo "I was thinking" is a softening past tense. It sounds less direct than penso, just as in English.

💬 The -ne on parlarne means "about it" and attaches directly to the verb. Same with pensarne "to think about it".

💬 Direzione looks like "direction", but at work it means "management". It can also mean "direction" in other contexts.

🇮🇹 Deferring to management is the normal reply in Italian companies, not necessarily a brush-off. A follow-up date is a good sign.

💬 Le here is the polite "to you" and goes before the verb. Present tense often covers the near future: le rispondo "I'll answer you".

💬 Entro means "by" or "within" a deadline, unlike fino a "until". For example, entro domani means "by tomorrow".

💬 mille literally means "a thousand", so this is "a thousand thanks". It's an everyday phrase, not an over-the-top one.

💬 Suo is the polite "your", even though it's the same word as "his/her". The informal version would be il tuo tempo.

🇮🇹 This is the polite reply to thanks from someone senior. Among friends you'd say figurati or di niente "it's nothing".