Italian pronouns
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Subject Pronouns
Italian is a pro-drop language. This means that the subject pronoun is often omitted when not necessary for understanding. This is more often than not the case since Italian verb endings change according to each person and number. The subject pronoun is only included for clarification or emphasis.
Vado al lavoro. I'm going to work.
Io vado al lavoro. I'm going to work (not you). [But perhaps more naturally: Vado al lavoro io]
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | io I | noi we |
| 2nd | tu you (informal) Lei you (formal) |
voi you (neutral) Loro you (formal) |
| 3rd | lui he lei she |
loro they |
Use tu to address God, relatives, friends, children, and animals.
The formal form Lei is used to address strangers, authority figures, people with title. Loro can be used for the plural in these instances, but voi is more common in all occurrences of the 2nd person plural.
In formal contexts, lui may be replaced with egli, lei with ella, and loro with essi (m) and esse (f). Lui, lei, and loro are colloquial forms, but sound rude in formal contexts. The reason is that the two different pronouns have different syntactical use: "egli, ella ,essi, esse" is subject and "lui, lei, loro" are complement.
To express an impersonal subject ("one", "you", or "they" in English), Italian uses the pronoun si. The construction can also be translated to the English passive tense.
- Quando si parla chiaramente, si fa capire. When you speak clearly, you makes yourself understood.
- Si serve tutti tipi di cucina là. They serve all sorts of food there./All sorts of food are served there.
When si takes an adjectival complement, the adjective is expressed in the masculine plural. See Italian adjectives for more information.
- Quando si è stanchi, si diventa irritabili. When one is tired, one becomes irritable.
Object Pronouns
Italian has three types of personal object pronouns: direct, indirect, and disjunctive. The direct object pronouns and the indirect object pronouns precede the conjugated verb, or are attached to the end of an infinitive, gerund, or imperative.
Direct Object Pronouns
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | mi me | ci us |
| 2nd | ti you (informal) La you (formal) |
vi you |
| 3rd | lo him/it la her/it |
li them (m) le them (f) |
Therefore we have:
- Mi ami. You love me.
- Ti amo. I love you.
- Lo crede. He/She believes him/it.
- La vede. He/She sees her/it.
- Ci vedete. You (pl.) see us.
- Vi vediamo. We see you (pl.).
- Li vedo. I see them.
- Le vedo. I see them (f.).
- -but-
- Speriamo di vedervi stasera. We hope to see you (pl.) this evening.
- Credendolo, non mi guardono. Believing him/it, they did not look at me.
- Faccialo per favore! Please do it.
Lo is used not only to refer to masculine nouns but also to reference intangibles like topics of conversation, ideas, etc. Therefore:
- Giulia non ama Michele. Julia doesn't love Michael.
- Non lo credo! I don't believe it!
La is generally only used to refer to feminine nouns. It can refer to generalities as lo does in some set verbal structures like farcela (to make it).
- Ce la faccio! I did/made it!
- Non ce la faccio più! I can't stand this anymore.
Li is used to refer to both masculine plural nouns and a mixed group of masculine and feminine. Le is used only to refer to feminine plural nouns.
- Ho mangiato il formaggio e la frutta. I ate the cheese and the fruit. -> Li ho mangiati I ate them.
As you can see in the above example, the past participle changes to agree with the object pronoun.
- L'ho mangiato. I ate it, where it is expressed by lo and therefore masculine.
- L'ho mangiata. I ate it, where it is expressed by la and therefore feminine.
- Also, Li ho mangiati. and Le ho mangiate.
A pronoun will quite often be used in conversation where it is not exactly necessary.
- Il libro l'ho dato a Marco ieri. I gave the book to Marc yesterday. (Lit. The book, I gave it to Marc yesterday.)
Indirect Object Pronouns
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | mi me | ci us |
| 2nd | ti you (informal) Le you (formal) |
vi you |
| 3rd | gli him/it le her/it |
gli/loro them |
Both gli and loro mean "to them". However, gli comes before the conjugated verb and loro comes after it.
- Gli ho dato i libri ieri. I gave them the books yesterday.
- -but-
- Ho dato loro i libri ieri. I gave them the books yesterday.
Gli is much more common than loro in these instances.
The indirect object pronouns do not cause past participle agreement:
- Le ho parlato. I spoke to her. NOT *Le ho parlata.
When the direct object pronouns and the indirect object pronouns appear in the same sentence, the indirect object pronouns precede the direct object pronouns. Also, the indirect object pronouns that have -i change to -e. Except for gli which combines with the direct object pronoun. Thus:
| Direct Object Pronouns | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indirect Object Pronouns | lo | la | li | le |
| mi | me lo | me la | me li | me le |
| ti | te lo | te la | te li | te le |
| gli | glielo | gliela | glieli | gliele |
| le | glielo | gliela | glieli | gliele |
| ci | ce lo | ce la | ce li | ce le |
| vi | ve lo | ve la | ve li | ve le |
| gli | glielo | gliela | glieli | gliele |
Disjunctive Object Pronouns
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | me me | noi us |
| 2nd | te you (informal) La you (formal) |
voi you |
| 3rd | lui him/it lei her/it |
loro them |
The disjunctive pronouns serve two purposes. First and more often, they are used after prepositions.
- Preferisco tenerlo per me. I prefer to keep it to myself.
- Si trova dietro di te! It's behind you!
Secondly and less often, they are used as an emphatic direct object.
- Visita noi due ogni giorno. She visits us both every day.
Reflexive Pronouns
As in all Romance languages, there is a class of verbs called reflexive verbs. They are used to express actions that one does to oneself and also actions that in English would not be reflexive but in Italian and other Romance languages are expressed reflexively. These verbs take an obligatory pronouns, the reflexive pronoun.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | mi myself | ci ourselves |
| 2nd | ti yourself (informal) Si yourself (formal) |
vi yourselves |
| 3rd | si himself/herself/itself | si themselves |
Thus we have:
- Mi sveglio spesso di buon ora. I often wake up early.
- Devi spiegarti. You'll have to explain yourself.
These pronouns can be used with verbs that would not normally be reflexive to express actions that are reciprocal.
- Ci possiamo parlare per ore. We can talk to each other for hours.
- Si incontrano nella piazza alle tre. They're meeting each other in the square at 3.
Reflexive verbs take essere in the passato prossimo and not avere.
- Si è alzata alle sette per prendere il treno. She got up at 7 to catch the train.
Ci, Vi and Ne
We have already met ci and vi above, as the direct, indirect, and reflexive pronouns for the first and second persons plural, respectively. Ci and vi are also used as pronouns to replace prepositional phrases of location or direction towards (often indicaqted by the pronouns a, in, per, etc.). They are often translated as "there" in English. Ci is used more often than vi in this context. Before lo, la, li, le, and ne, ci changes to ce.
- Sono andato a Parma la settimana scorsa. I went to Parma last week.
- Ci sono andato la settimana scorsa. I went there last week.
Ci is also used to replace the impersonal si in a reflexive construction to avoid the doubling up of two si's.
- Si lava le mani. He/she is washes his/her hands.
- Ci si lava le mani. One washes one's hands.
NEVER *Si si lava le mani.
Ne is used pronominally to replace the partitive article and also phrases of direction from.
- Vuoi della torta? Want some cake? -> Ne vuoi? Want some?
- Torno del lavoro alle 5. I'm coming home from work at 5. -> Ne torno alle 5. I'm coming back (from there) at 5.
Ne is also used to replace counted nouns.
- Quanti bambini ha? How many children do you have?
- Ne ho tre. Due figli e una figlia. I have 3 (children). Two boys and one girl.
Both ci and ne can be also be used in set idiomatic phrases, such as farcela and andarsene.
- Ce l'ho fatto! I did/made it!
- Me ne vado, ciao! I'm off, bye!
Possessive Pronouns
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Indicate ownership. Preceded by the definitive article and agree in gender and number with the thing possessed, not the possessor.
| my, mine | il mio | la mia | i miei | le mie |
| your, yours | il tuo | la tua | i tuoi | le tue |
| his | ||||
| her, hers | il suo | la sua | i suoi | le sue |
| its | ||||
| your, yours | il suo | la sua | i suoi | le sue |
| our, ours | il nostro | la nostra | i nostri | le nostre |
| your, yours | il vostro | la vostra | i vostri | le vostre |
| their, theirs | il loro | la loro | i loro | le loro |
| your, yours | il Loro | la Loro | i Loro | le Loro |
Relative Pronouns
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
A. Relative pronouns link two clauses.
L'uomo che canta è mio cugino.
The man who is singing is my cousin.
B. The most common relative pronouns:
1. Che (who, whom, that, which) is always expressed in Italian.
It is invariable.
2. Cui (whom, which) is only used as the object of a preposition:
La persona a cui scrivo è mio amico.
The person I'm writing to (to whom I am writing) is my friend.
3. Il quale, la quale, i quali, le quali often replace cui or che to
avoid ambiguity or repetition.
4. Quello che, quel che or ciò che, all meaning that, which, or what,
are invariable and can function as subject or object.
5. Chi, functioning alone as a relative pronoun, is followed by the
third person singular of the verb:
Chi cerca, trova.
He who seeks, finds.
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