ammettevi

Ammettevi is a nonstandard Italian verb form that commonly appears as a misspelling or dialectal variant of the second-person plural imperative ammettetevi. It is derived from the verb ammettere (to admit) and the reflexive pronoun usage found in ammettersi (to admit oneself). In standard Italian the correct imperative for voi with a reflexive verb is ammettetevi or, when used without the reflexive, ammettete. The form ammettevi is not listed as a correct standard form in modern grammars and is rarely encountered in formal writing.

Etymology and grammar

The base is ammettere, with the reflexive sense expressed by ammettersi. When forming the imperative for voi with a reflexive pronoun, the accepted form is ammettetevi. The sequence ammettevi lacks the needed double consonant pattern and is generally treated as a typographical error or as a nonstandard regional variant. Because of this, ammettevi is typically corrected in editing to ammettetevi or to a non-reflexive construction such as vi ammettete, depending on the intended meaning.

Usage

Ammettevi occurs primarily in informal speech, historical texts, or OCR-transcribed material where orthography is inconsistent. In contemporary standard Italian, it should be corrected to ammettetevi (the proper imperative with the reflexive pronoun) or replaced with a non-reflexive construction if the meaning does not require the reflexive.

See also

Ammettere; Ammettersi.

Examples

Correct standard: Ammettetevi di avere ragione. Non è facile ammettere di aver commesso l’errore.

Nonstandard/misspelling: Ammettevi di avere ragione.