Glieli?

Hi, in module 5 (level 1), putting Direct and Indirect Objects Pronouns Together, they put the next example:

• Giorgio chiede a Carola i libri
• then with the direct and indirect object pronouns:
• Giorgio glieli chiede

I dont understand why they are using “glieli” in the second sentence. It is a hard topic to me, but I thought the correct one was “Gliela” since Carola is a feminine in singular. 

thanks for your help, and sorry if its too silly ;)

Hi Christhian33

I can't help, but what I can say is that I still battle with this concept and have been grappling with this concept. So this is by no means silly. I keep going back to this lesson and still struggle time and time again. Not to mention pronunciation, let us not even go there. So even though I keep going back, have decided if I never get this bit and I can get by I am good with that. 

Good luck I really don't think it is an easy topic

Sebongela

Hi, I haven't got to this lesson yet, but perhaps my experience from French pronouns can help.

It looks like the indirect pronoun is glie, referring to Carola. The “li” which is appended refers to the books, so is masc plural. 

The confusion could be that in English the verb is “to ask”, in which case “Carola” would be the direct object and “for the books” is the indirect object.  It appears that the Italian chiedere means specifically “to ask for”,  in which case the objects are reversed (regarding direct and indirect). So the phrase “the books” (i libri) is the direct object, and Carola becomes the indirect object. 

Perhaps a tutor can either confirm or correct!

Yes, I  struggled with this too.

Remember the indirect object comes first, in this case gli (Carola), followed by the direct object li (the books). Gli + Li = glieli.

Hi Christian, 

Thanks for your question! Indeed, this is quite a complex topic so don't worry at all - with a few additional examples it might be slightly easier to fully understand.

As Iain-McC also stated on this thread (yes!), the indirect object comes first and is then followed by the direct object. 

• Giorgio chiede a Carola i libri
• Giorgio glieli chiede
• GLIE (to her) + LI (them, the books, masc. pl.)

If I wrote “Giorgio gliela chiede” it would have implied that the “requested” item was a feminine one. You could have used it in this example for instance:

Giorgio chiede a Carola la penna

Giorgio gliela chiede

GLIE (to her) + LA (it, the pen, fem. sing.)

Another example to better understand this rule:

Io preparo la cena alla mamma (I make dinner for my mother)

Io gliela preparo

GLIE (to/for her) + LA (it, the dinner, fem. sing.)

Let's try with another example:

Hai detto a Marco il nostro segreto (You told Marco our secret)

Glielo hai detto

GLIE (to him) + LO (it, the secret, masc. sing.)

Hope this helps, please feel free to share any additional questions if/as needed :)

Thanks all of you for your help. 

This has been a really hard topic, but I can understand it better now.

Caterina your examples have been very useful.

:)