Beyond manners: The Many Meanings of Prego

Prego with its many meanings and applications is one of the most useful words in the Italian vocabulary.

One well-known meaning of prego is “you’re welcome” in English at its most basic level. Though there isn’t an English equivalent of the word prego, it is the politeness word, which exists in many other languages and cultures.

Aside from “you’re welcome”, prego is a polite way of asking “please” or even “go ahead”.

In this blog post, we’ll look at the various situations and meanings of the Italian word prego and how knowing its subtleties can improve your ability to communicate with native Italian speakers.

Meaning of Prego at a Glance

Let’s take a look at a short dialogue demonstrating the usefulness, and potentially confusing aspects of prego.

Imagine an everyday situation. Giorgio arrives at the cinema. Carla has just bought a ticket but lingers in front of the box office. Giorgio is not sure this is the correct box office.

Prego to Mean You’re welcome

The most common meaning of prego is “you’re welcome” in Italian. It’s used in any context, formal or informal and it literally means “I pray”.

Prego was originally an acknowledgment of grazie (thank you), which also has a religious origin, meaning “grace”. So in this context, the religious response of prego, I pray, might make a little more sense.

Prego to Ask “I beg your pardon?”

In this context, prego is a little more formal, like its English equivalent “I beg your pardon?” or “Excuse me?”. Prego? is simply a polite way of asking someone to repeat themselves.

Prego to Mean “Please”

Here prego expresses politeness and, in typical Italian fashion, may be accompanied by a hand gesture, showing that we are making way for another person.

It is almost as if we were saying: “I pray you to come through” – hence the translation as “please, be my guest”. A classic is prego, dopo di te/lei (please, after you); or simply prego accompanying a polite gesture, such as keeping a door open for someone to come in.

On the bus, we can point at an empty seat and say prego to someone to mean “Please, have a seat”.

Another use of this type of prego is to generally give permission to do something. For example, during a group discussion, if two people start to speak at the same time, one person may say Prego! to the other, as in, “please, you speak first”.

Politeness does not mean formality: this “prego” is another everyday one, good for friends as well as strangers.

Prego to Express Disbelief

There is another interrogative form of prego worth mentioning: the incredulous/ironic one, equivalent “excuse me?” in English.

Just like in English, intonation is key. It’s used to show your reaction or how you feel about a ridiculous or unbelievable statement, such as if you receive a bill that is much higher than you expect, or if you’re casually insulted by a friend.

Prego When Offering to Help

The same goes for the prego that we use when offering to help. When a customer arrives at the counter in a shop, the assistant will say prego, offering their help. Almost like ushering the customer forward, while asking “how can I help?

However, it only takes a change in intonation to turn polite prego into passive-aggressive prego. Similar to the way in English we may say “please” 🙄 but actually mean “For heaven’s sake!”

Let’s take a look at an example where you’re in the post office during rush hour. If it’s your turn and you’re taking your time getting to the nearest free desk, a frustrated customer in the back will surely give you a firm avanti, prego! (move please!).

Prego to Express Frustration

Last but not least, an expression that actually goes back full circle to the original meaning, indeed: “I pray”. You will hear this uttered with resignation in all sorts of situations:

Here ti prego stands for “for heaven’s sake, I pray to you that it is not so!”. It is only used in very informal situations. You’ll hear it often during football games.