"Maria's new Aston Martin DB5 is wonderful. The Aston Martin DB5 handles like an dream, and the Aston Martin DB5 can hit 60mph in just 3 seconds. Maria loves the Aston Martin DB5."
See how clumsy and long that is?
Well, that's where pronouns come in.
With pronouns you only need to use the object's actual name once; and subject's not at all! From then on you can use pronouns like I, my, and it instead...
"My new Aston Martin DB5 is wonderful. It handles like a dream, and it can hit 60mph in just 3 seconds. I love it."
Much better.
Resources for further reading:
Pronouns are words that are used in place of a noun. They can be the subject, the object, or complement. There are different kinds of Italian pronouns, which we look at below.
Here are the Italian subject pronouns to get you started. Further on in this lesson we will look at the pronunciation of these and many other categories of pronouns.
Personal pronouns substitute for the noun without repeating it. They can be divided into:
Possessive pronouns, that indicate the possession; they have the same form of the adjective possessive: **mio, tuo,suo, nostro, vostro, loro, proprio. **
La casa è mia - The house is mine
Demonstrative pronouns, which show the position in the space and in the time. Questo, quello - This, that.
Quella casa è mia. - That house is mine.
Indefinite pronouns, that don't specify the identity of the person or of the object.
Qualcuno ha chiamato. - Someone called.
Relative pronouns, which relate more propositions.
La casa, che (la quale) hai comprato, è mia. - The house, that you bought, is mine
Interrogative pronouns, that introduce questions: chi - who, che - what, quale - which, quanto - how much.
Chi è lui? - Who is he?
In Italian there are 7 personal subject pronouns: 4 for the singular, 3 for the plural.
Personal subject pronouns are usually dropped as the conjugation is usually enough to determine the grammatical person.
They are used when some emphasis is needed or if the subject remains not clear.
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io
I
tu
you
lui
he
lei
she
noi
we
voi
you
loro
they
Io sono Luigi
I am luigi
Chi sei tu?
Who are you?
Lui è un mio amico
He is a friend of mine
Lei è simpatica.
She is nice
Noi siamo italiani
We are Italian
Venite anche voi?
Do you come too?
Loro amano viaggiare
They love travelling
Direct object pronouns are pronouns that directly receive the action of the verb. They answer the question What? or Whom?
In Italian there are two kinds of direct object pronouns, according with the presence or not of the accent.
While the position of the pronouns with accent is flexible, the ones without accent are always before the verb.
Io vedo lui | io lo vedo |
I see him | I see him |
Lucia bacia lui | Lucia lo bacia |
Lucia kisses him | Lucia kisses him |
IMPORTANT: In a negative sentence, the word non must be used before the object pronoun.
Io non lo vedo
I don't see him
Luigi, non mi toccare!
Luigi, don't touch me
with accent | without accent |
me | mi |
me | me |
te | ti |
you | you |
lui | lo |
him | him |
lei/Lei | la/La |
her/you (polite) | her/you (polite) |
noi | ci |
us | us |
voi | vi |
you (plural) | you (plural) |
loro | li |
them | them |
Indirect object pronouns answer the question To whom? or For whom?
Just like the Direct Object Pronoun, we have two different forms, depending on the presence or not of the accent. While the position of the pronouns with accent is flexible, the pronouns without accent are always before the verb.
Paola pensa a me / Paola mi pensa - Paolo thinks of me
with accent | without accent |
a me | mi |
(to) me | (to) me |
a te | ti |
(to) you | (to) you |
a lui | gli |
(to) him | (to) him |
a lei/a Lei | le/Le |
(to) her/you (formal) | (to) her/you (formal) |
a noi | ci |
(to) us | (to) us |
a voi | vi |
(to) you (plural) | (to) you (plural) |
a loro | gli |
(to) them | (to) them |
Reflexive pronouns are used in connection with reflexive verbs, in which the action reflects itself on the subject, e.g. lavarsi = lavare + si - to wash himself.
In the infinitive, the reflexive pronoun is added at the end of the word (for ex. lavare + si - lavarsi), while in the conjugated forms it is always before the verb, except with the modal verbs; in that case it could be also added at the ending of the depending infinitive verb.
Mi voglio lavare - I want to wash myself, but also: Voglio lavarmi
io mi lavo
I wash myself
tu ti lavi
You wash yourself
lui/lei/Lei si lava
he/she/you (formal) wash(es) himself/herself/yourself
noi ci laviamo
We wash ourselves
voi vi lavate
You (plural) wash yourselves
loro si lavano
They wash themselves
io mi nascondo
I hide myself
tu ti nascondi
You hide yourself
lui/lei/Lei si nasconde
He/she/you (formal) hide(s) himself/herself/yourself
noi ci nascondiamo
We hide ourselves
voi vi nascondete
You (plural) hide yourselves
loro si nascondono
They hide themselves
io mi vesto
I dress myself
tu ti vesti
You hide yourself
lui/lei/Lei si veste
He/she/you (formal) dress(es) himself/herself/yourself
noi ci vestiamo
We dress ourselves
voi vi vestite
You (plural) dress yourselves
loro si vestono
They dress themselves
In Italian speech it's really important to distinguish between formal and informal situations.
The pronoun you in an informal situation is translated with the 2nd person tu, but, when we have to address strangers, acquaintances, older people, or people in authority we use the third feminine person Lei always capitalizing the first letter. The verb will also be the third person singular.
Rarely, we also find the second person plural form, voi, with the same meaning. However, in modern Italian it is just used to refer to very important people, like the Pope or the President. The use of the third person plural Loro as a polite plural form is extremely rare and not generally in use.
Come stai (tu), Giovanni?
How are you, Giovanni?
Come sta, Signor Rossi?
How are you, Mr. Rossi?
For more on Italian grammar check out these lessons!
A presto!
Maria Di Lorenzi: Rocket Italian
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