🔍 In short. The italian lasciare infinitive construction is how Italian says “let someone do something” or “let something happen”: lascia parlare la guida (let the guide speak), lascialo passare (let him through), lasciamoli stare (let’s leave them alone). The verb lasciare sits in front of a bare infinitive, with no preposition in between, and the person doing the action goes either before lasciare as a pronoun (lo lascio entrare) or after the infinitive as a full noun (lascio entrare Carmine). On top of this grammar pattern, the italian lasciare infinitive feeds a whole family of fixed expressions that you hear every day: lascia stare, lascia perdere, lasciar correre, lascia fare a me. This B1 guide covers the pattern, the pronoun rules, the comparison with fare, and the everyday idioms, with a Matera dialogue and a quiz.
Once the italian lasciare infinitive pattern clicks, a huge slice of natural Italian opens up: giving permission, stepping back, brushing off a small annoyance, handing a task over. By the end of this italian lasciare infinitive guide you will place pronouns confidently and pick the right idiom for the moment.
Cosa impareremo oggi
👆🏻 Jump to section
- What the italian lasciare infinitive pattern is
- Permission and stepping back: lascialo parlare
- Where the pronoun goes: lascialo passare or lo lascio passare
- When the doer is a noun: lascio parlare la guida
- Lasciare vs fare: let versus make
- Lascia stare and lascia perdere: the brush-off
- Lasciar correre and the dropped final -e
- Lascia fare a me: handing the task over
- Lascia che + subjunctive: the alternative pattern
- Cheat sheet: italian lasciare infinitive
- Three common mistakes
- Dialog: cave tour in the Sassi di Matera
- Frequently asked questions
- Related guides
What the italian lasciare infinitive pattern is
Stand at the entrance of a cave-house tour in the Sassi di Matera and you will hear the italian lasciare infinitive pattern within the first thirty seconds: lascia parlare la guida, lasciate passare il gruppo, lasciamoli entrare uno alla volta. The recipe is simple: a form of lasciare, then a bare infinitive, then the person or thing that does the action. No di, no a, no che in between.
- Lascia parlare Eufemia, conosce la storia delle case-grotta meglio di tutti.
Let Eufemia speak, she knows the history of the cave-houses better than anyone. - Lasciatemi finire la spiegazione, poi vi do la parola.
Let me finish the explanation, then I’ll hand it over to you. - Carmine ha lasciato entrare un gruppo di turisti francesi nella grotta più grande.
Carmine let a group of French tourists into the biggest cave.
English splits this work between three verbs: “let” (permission), “have” (arranging something), and “leave” (in fixed expressions like “let it go”). Italian uses lasciare for all three, and the meaning is usually clear from context. The italian lasciare infinitive sits next to its sibling fare + infinitive, which expresses “make” or “have” with a stronger sense of cause; we will line them up in a moment.
Permission and stepping back: lascialo parlare
The core meaning of the italian lasciare infinitive is permission: you allow someone to do something, or you step back and let an event happen. Think of a tour guide opening the gate of a Sasso, a waiter motioning a customer through, a friend telling you to stop interrupting.
- Lascialo passare, ha la prenotazione per il tour delle nove.
Let him through, he has the booking for the nine o’clock tour. - Lasciamoli stare, vogliono fotografare il panorama in silenzio.
Let’s leave them alone, they want to photograph the view in silence. - Eufemia non lascia mai uscire i bambini dalla grotta senza un adulto.
Eufemia never lets the children leave the cave without an adult.
The same pattern also covers what English handles with “let” + a non-human subject: lascia cadere il fazzoletto (let the handkerchief fall), lascia bollire l’acqua (let the water boil), non lasciare entrare la pioggia (don’t let the rain in). Whether the doer is a person, a child, an animal or the weather, the italian lasciare infinitive recipe is the same: lasciare + bare infinitive, then the doer.
Where the pronoun goes: lascialo passare or lo lascio passare
When the doer is a pronoun rather than a noun, the italian lasciare infinitive follows the same rule that holds for fare + infinitive: the pronoun goes before lasciare in the indicative, and attaches to lasciare in the imperative. It never sits on the infinitive itself.
- Lo lascio passare. → Lascialo passare!
I let him through. → Let him through! - Li lasciamo entrare. → Lasciamoli entrare!
We let them in. → Let’s let them in! - La lasciate parlare. → Lasciatela parlare!
You let her speak. → Let her speak! - Mi lasci finire? → Lasciami finire!
Will you let me finish? → Let me finish!
Notice the doubling on the imperative: lasciamoli, lasciatela, lascialo. The pronoun glues onto the imperative form, the same way it does on fallo (do it), dimmi (tell me), andiamo (let’s go). The pronoun never attaches to the following infinitive in this pattern: you cannot say lascia passarlo for “let him through”. It is lascialo passare if you are giving an order, or lo lascia passare if you are describing a habit.
🔍 One safe rule. In the italian lasciare infinitive, the pronoun lives on lasciare, not on the infinitive. Indicative → before (lo lascio entrare). Imperative → attached (lascialo entrare). If you ever feel tempted to write lascia entrarlo, stop and move the pronoun onto lasciare.
When the doer is a noun: lascio parlare la guida
If the doer of the infinitive is a full noun, it usually goes after the infinitive in the italian lasciare infinitive: lascio parlare la guida, lasciate passare il gruppo, non lasciare entrare quel cane. The noun can sit between lasciare and the infinitive too, as in lascio la guida parlare, and both orders are grammatical, but the post-infinitive position is the everyday default.
- Eufemia lascia entrare i visitatori uno alla volta nella cripta affrescata.
Eufemia lets the visitors into the frescoed crypt one at a time. - Non lasciamo cadere le borse sul pavimento di tufo, è fragile.
Let’s not drop the bags on the tufa floor, it’s fragile. - Carmine ha lasciato finire la sua bottiglia di primitivo prima di pagare.
Carmine let his bottle of primitivo finish before paying.
When the infinitive has its own object, things get tighter. The doer is then introduced by a (or sometimes da, as a parallel of the fare causative): lascio leggere il libro a Eufemia (I let Eufemia read the book), lascio guidare la macchina a Carmine (I let Carmine drive the car). The object of the infinitive (il libro, la macchina) sits close to the infinitive; the doer (a Eufemia, a Carmine) tags on at the end. This is the same architecture as faccio leggere il libro a Eufemia, with the only difference being meaning: fare makes, lasciare allows.
🎯 Mini-task #1. Turn the indicative sentence into an imperative, moving the pronoun.
- Lo lasci entrare. → ___ (tu, imperative)
- La lasciamo parlare. → ___ (noi, imperative)
- Li lasciate passare. → ___ (voi, imperative)
- Mi lasci finire? → ___ (tu, imperative)
- Ci lasciano aspettare fuori. → ___ (loro, indicative, no change in pronoun position)
- Lo lasciamo provare il pane. → ___ (noi, imperative)
👉 Show answers
1. Lascialo entrare · 2. Lasciamola parlare · 3. Lasciatela passare (or Lasciateli passare for masc.pl.) · 4. Lasciami finire · 5. Ci lasciano aspettare fuori (indicative keeps pronoun before lasciare) · 6. Lasciamoglielo provare (combined: gli + lo + provare → glielo on lasciamo)
Lasciare vs fare: let versus make
The italian lasciare infinitive sits next to fare + infinitive, and the two share the same architecture. The difference is meaning, not grammar:
- Faccio entrare Carmine. = I make Carmine come in. / I have Carmine come in. (I cause it.)
- Lascio entrare Carmine. = I let Carmine come in. (He decides; I just allow it.)
- Faccio assaggiare il caciocavallo a Carmine. = I have Carmine taste the caciocavallo.
- Lascio assaggiare il caciocavallo a Carmine. = I let Carmine taste the caciocavallo.
One small twist: fare + infinitive sometimes shades over into “let” too, the same way English “have” can. Lo faccio entrare in a doorway context often means “I let him in” rather than “I make him come in”; the speaker is the one with the key, and the visitor is the one who wanted in. The italian lasciare infinitive removes this ambiguity by spelling out the permission meaning. When in doubt about whether you sound coercive, switch to lasciare: lascialo entrare never reads as “force him in”.
Lascia stare and lascia perdere: the brush-off
Two of the most common italian lasciare infinitive idioms are lascia stare and lascia perdere. Both mean roughly “drop it, let it go, don’t bother”, and both come out of the same construction: lasciare + the bare infinitives stare (to stay) and perdere (to lose, in the sense of “miss out on”). Native speakers feel a small difference in tone: lascia perdere often carries a hint of disappointment, while lascia stare leans toward mild annoyance, the verbal shrug you give when an argument is not worth having.
- Lascia stare, non vale la pena di litigare con il cameriere per due euro.
Leave it, it’s not worth fighting with the waiter over two euros. - Lascia perdere quella mappa, ti spiego io la strada per i Sassi.
Forget that map, I’ll show you the way to the Sassi myself. - Eufemia ha detto «lascia stare» e ha cambiato argomento.
Eufemia said “drop it” and changed the subject.
Both expressions can take a direct object: lascia stare quel piatto (leave that dish alone), lascia perdere il prezzo (don’t worry about the price). They can also act as a standalone interjection, the way English uses “never mind”. When a friend starts a long complicated story you do not want to hear, lascia stare! on its own does the whole job.
Lasciar correre and the dropped final -e
In the italian lasciare infinitive idioms you will often hear lasciar rather than lasciare: lasciar correre, lasciar perdere, lasciar stare, lasciar fare. The final -e drops away in front of another verb, the same way it does in far vedere, poter dire, voler bene. It is a small phonetic habit, not a separate verb, and you can write it either way: lascia correre and lasciar correre are both standard.
- Lascia correre, è solo un piccolo malinteso sulla prenotazione.
Let it slide, it’s just a small mix-up about the booking. - Conviene lasciar correre quando il cameriere è già di cattivo umore.
It’s wise to let it go when the waiter is already in a bad mood. - Carmine preferisce lasciar perdere certe discussioni a tavola.
Carmine prefers to drop certain arguments at the table.
Lasciar correre in particular means turning a blind eye, choosing not to make an issue out of something small. It is the verbal equivalent of a slow shrug. In Matera, where the same family of guides has been showing tourists the Sassi for generations, you will hear lasciar correre when a customer arrives ten minutes late and the guide decides not to make a fuss. The italian lasciare infinitive earns half its idiomatic mileage from this tolerant, please-don’t-escalate register.
Lascia fare a me: handing the task over
Another high-frequency italian lasciare infinitive idiom is lascia fare a me (or lascia fare a lui, a lei, a noi): “let me handle it”, “don’t worry, I’ll take care of it”. The structure is the same italian lasciare infinitive construction we have already seen (lasciare + infinitive + indirect object marker a + person), but the meaning has hardened into a fixed reassurance.
- Lascia fare a me, conosco il proprietario del ristorante.
Leave it to me, I know the restaurant owner. - Lascia fare a Eufemia: con i turisti francesi se la cava benissimo.
Let Eufemia handle it: she manages French tourists very well. - Lasciate fare a noi la prenotazione, voi pensate al bagaglio.
Let us handle the booking, you take care of the luggage.
The a + person tag at the end is what marks this idiom apart from a generic lascia fare. Without the tag, lascia fare alone is mostly southern and informal, where it does the job of lascia stare. With the tag, it becomes the standard polite offer to take a job off someone else’s hands. It is the phrase a Matera tour guide uses when a couple of tourists are fumbling with a tricky parking app: signori, lasciate fare a me.
Lascia che + subjunctive: the alternative pattern
Italian has a second way of saying “let someone do something”: lascia che + present subjunctive. It overlaps with the italian lasciare infinitive but feels a touch more formal, a touch more deliberate. Where the infinitive pattern is the everyday shortcut, the che + subjunctive pattern is the slowed-down version, often used in writing, in polite speech, or when you want to spell out who exactly is doing the action.
- Lascia parlare Eufemia. = Lascia che parli Eufemia.
Let Eufemia speak. - Lasciali entrare. = Lascia che entrino.
Let them in. - Lascia che ti spieghi: i peperoni cruschi non sono piccanti, sono dolci e croccanti.
Let me explain: peperoni cruschi aren’t spicy, they’re sweet and crisp.
The two patterns are interchangeable in most cases, but lascia che + subjunctive is the only option when the doer is a clause rather than a single noun, or when you want to insert extra material between lasciare and the verb: lascia che almeno una volta Carmine ordini lui il vino. For B1, treat the italian lasciare infinitive as your default and pull out lascia che + subjunctive when you want a slightly more polished register.
Cheat sheet: italian lasciare infinitive
One table, the whole system. Keep it open while you build your next sentence with lasciare.
| Pattern | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| lasciare + infinitive + noun doer | permission, general allowing | lascio parlare la guida |
| pronoun + lasciare + infinitive | indicative with attached | lo lascio passare |
| lasciare-imperative + pronoun | command with attached | lascialo passare |
| lasciare + infinitive + object + a + doer | doer when infinitive has its own object | lascio leggere il libro a Eufemia |
| fare vs lasciare | fare = make/have; lasciare = let | faccio entrare = lascio entrare |
| lascia stare / lascia perdere | drop it, never mind | lascia stare, non importa |
| lasciar correre | turn a blind eye | lascia correre, è una sciocchezza |
| lascia fare a me/lui/noi | I’ll handle it / let X handle it | lascia fare a me |
| lascia che + subjunctive | more formal alternative | lascia che parli Eufemia |
| shortened form lasciar- | final -e drops before infinitive | lasciar fare, lasciar perdere |
Three common mistakes
Three slips with the italian lasciare infinitive flag a B1 sentence as written by a learner. Fixing them is fast, and once you spot them in your own writing the italian lasciare infinitive becomes a reflex rather than a guess.
Mistake 1. Putting the pronoun on the infinitive. Wrong: lascia passarlo. Correct: lascialo passare (imperative) or lo lascia passare (indicative). The attached lives on lasciare, never on the bare infinitive that follows. Same rule as with fare: fallo entrare, not fa’ entrarlo.
Mistake 2. Slipping in a preposition. Wrong: lascio di parlare a Eufemia. Correct: lascio parlare Eufemia. The italian lasciare infinitive takes a bare infinitive, with no di or a before it. English speakers who think of “let to speak” or French speakers who think of “laisser de parler” add the preposition by reflex; remove it.
Mistake 3. Confusing lasciare the causative with lasciare the plain verb. Lascio il bagaglio in albergo means “I leave the luggage at the hotel”: plain lasciare + noun, “to leave behind”. Lascio entrare il bagaglio nel taxi means “I let the luggage into the taxi”: the italian lasciare infinitive pattern. The plain verb takes a noun; the causative takes an infinitive. Two different patterns, one verb.
🎯 Mini-task #2. Fix or confirm each sentence.
- Lascia passarlo, ha la prenotazione.
- Lascio di parlare Eufemia per prima.
- Lasciamoli stare, sono stanchi.
- Lascio il caciocavallo assaggiare a Carmine.
- Lascia stare, non importa.
- Lascia che entrino con calma.
👉 Show answers
1. Lascialo passare (attached on lasciare, not infinitive) · 2. Lascio parlare Eufemia per prima (no di) · 3. ✓ correct · 4. Lascio assaggiare il caciocavallo a Carmine (object close to infinitive, doer with a at the end) · 5. ✓ correct (idiom) · 6. ✓ correct (lascia che + subjunctive)
Dialog: cave tour in the Sassi di Matera
Eufemia is finishing a tour of the cave-houses in the Sassi di Matera. Carmine, on his first visit to the city, follows her down a narrow lane toward a restaurant carved into a Sasso. Watch the italian lasciare infinitive in every register: permission, idioms, handing tasks over.
👩🏽🦱 Eufemia: Carmine, lasciami chiudere il cancello della grotta, poi scendiamo al ristorante. Tu intanto lascia passare il gruppo francese.
Carmine, let me close the cave gate, then we’ll go down to the restaurant. Meanwhile, let the French group through.
👨🏼🦰 Carmine: Va bene. Senti, posso fare una foto al panorama prima di scendere?
All right. Listen, can I take a picture of the view before we go down?
👩🏽🦱 Eufemia: Certo, lasciali andare avanti e fai con calma. La luce di adesso sui Sassi è la più bella della giornata.
Sure, let them go ahead and take your time. The light on the Sassi right now is the loveliest of the day.
👨🏼🦰 Carmine: Una cosa: il signore davanti continua a dire che il prezzo del tour è troppo alto. Devo rispondere?
One thing: the gentleman in front keeps saying the tour price is too high. Should I answer?
👩🏽🦱 Eufemia: Lascia perdere, ogni gruppo ne ha uno così. Se rispondi, ci perdiamo mezz’ora. Lascia stare e andiamo a mangiare.
Let it go, every group has one like that. If you reply, we lose half an hour. Drop it and let’s go eat.
👨🏼🦰 Carmine: D’accordo. Per il ristorante, devo prenotare io o ci pensi tu?
OK. For the restaurant, should I book or will you handle it?
👩🏽🦱 Eufemia: Lascia fare a me, conosco il proprietario. Quando entriamo, lasciamogli scegliere il menù: ha il caciocavallo podolico e i peperoni cruschi che cerchi da quando sei arrivato.
Leave it to me, I know the owner. When we go in, let’s let him pick the menu: he has the caciocavallo podolico and the peperoni cruschi you’ve been after since you arrived.
👨🏼🦰 Carmine: Perfetto. E se mi propone qualcosa di troppo strano?
Perfect. And if he suggests something too strange?
👩🏽🦱 Eufemia: Allora me lo dici e lasciamo correre. Non è il caso di offenderlo per un piatto di troppo.
Then you tell me and we’ll let it slide. No point in offending him over an extra dish.
👨🏼🦰 Carmine: Va bene, mi fido. Lasciami solo il tempo di chiamare mia sorella, poi ti raggiungo all’ingresso.
OK, I trust you. Just give me time to call my sister, then I’ll meet you at the entrance.
Count the constructions: lasciami chiudere, lascia passare, lasciali andare, lascia perdere, lascia stare, lascia fare a me, lasciamogli scegliere, lasciamo correre, lasciami. Permission, brush-off, handing the job over, dropping a small annoyance: a single half-hour in Matera exercises the whole italian lasciare infinitive family.
🎯 Mini-challenge. Describe a real scene in five sentences using at least three different italian lasciare infinitive patterns: one permission (lascialo passare), one idiom (lascia stare or lascia perdere), one with the doer as a noun (lascio parlare Carmine), one with lascia fare a + person, and one with lascia che + subjunctive. Read it out loud once.
Test your understanding
Take the quiz below to test what you’ve learned about the italian lasciare infinitive: pronoun position, fare-vs-lasciare, and the everyday idioms.
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Frequently asked questions
Six questions about the italian lasciare infinitive come up in every B1 cohort. The answers below draw on real classroom usage and on the Treccani entry on verbi causativi.
What’s the difference between lasciare + infinitive and fare + infinitive?
Both follow the same grammar: a form of the verb plus a bare infinitive plus the doer. The meaning is different. Fare + infinitive means make, force, or have someone do something (faccio entrare Carmine = I have Carmine come in, I cause it). Lasciare + infinitive means let or allow (lascio entrare Carmine = I let Carmine come in, he decides). Fare can sometimes slide into the let meaning too (lo faccio entrare in a doorway often means I let him in), but lasciare is unambiguous about permission: lascialo entrare never reads as forcing him in.
Lascia stare vs lascia perdere: which one do I use?
They are near-synonyms and mostly interchangeable. Both mean drop it, never mind, let it go. Native speakers feel a small nuance: lascia perdere often carries a hint of disappointment (something not worth your effort), while lascia stare leans toward mild annoyance (the verbal shrug when an argument is not worth having). Both work as standalone interjections (lascia stare!) and both take an optional direct object (lascia stare quel piatto, lascia perdere il prezzo). For B1 you can use them as synonyms without losing meaning.
Where does the pronoun go: lascialo passare or lascia passarlo?
It’s lascialo passare. With the italian lasciare infinitive, the pronoun goes on lasciare, never on the infinitive. In the imperative the pronoun attaches (lascialo passare, lasciamoli stare, lasciatela parlare). In the indicative the pronoun sits before lasciare (lo lascio passare, li lasciamo stare). The pattern is identical to fare + infinitive: fallo entrare, lo faccio entrare, never fa’ entrarlo. If you ever feel tempted to write lascia passarlo, move the pronoun back onto lasciare.
Why do I hear lasciar correre instead of lasciare correre?
It’s shortened form, the dropping of the final -e before another verb. The same thing happens with far vedere (fare), poter dire (potere), voler bene (volere), aver fatto (avere). It is purely phonetic, not a separate verb, and it shows up most often in fixed expressions: lasciar correre, lasciar perdere, lasciar stare, lasciar fare. You can write either form; lascia correre and lasciar correre are both standard. In careful writing the full form is slightly more common, in speech the dropped form is the default.
What does lascia fare a me mean?
It means leave it to me, I’ll handle it, don’t worry. The structure is the standard italian lasciare infinitive: lasciare + fare + a + person. The a + person tag at the end is what marks it as the polite I’ll-take-care-of-it offer, distinct from a generic lascia fare. Variants follow the same pattern: lascia fare a lui (let him handle it), lascia fare a Eufemia, lasciate fare a noi. Without the a + person tag, lascia fare on its own is mostly southern and informal, where it overlaps with lascia stare.
What’s the difference between lascialo parlare and lascia che parli?
Both mean let him speak. Lascialo parlare is the italian lasciare infinitive, the everyday shortcut. Lascia che parli is lascia che + present subjunctive, the slowed-down, slightly more formal version. They are interchangeable in most cases, but lascia che + subjunctive is the only option when you want to insert extra material between lasciare and the verb (lascia che almeno una volta Carmine ordini lui il vino) or when the doer is a whole clause. For B1, treat the infinitive pattern as your default and pull out lascia che + subjunctive when you want a slightly more polished register.
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Related guides
Three guides that pair with the italian lasciare infinitive, plus an institutional reference on causatives.
- Italian Causative: Fare and Lasciare + Infinitive: the parent hub with both verbs and their shared architecture.
- Italian Da vs A in Causatives: how the doer is introduced when the infinitive has its own object.
- Italian Perception Verbs + Infinitive: the parallel pattern with vedo, sento, guardo + infinitive.
- Treccani: Verbi causativi: institutional reference on fare and lasciare + infinitive.
