Direct Pronouns: The in Italian Are
Direct Pronouns: The in Italian Are
Direct Pronouns: The in Italian Are
First of all, what’s a pronoun? A pronoun is a variable part of the language that is used to replace the noun; it indicates directly people or things that are
present in reality or that have been already mentioned, otherwise it refers to the content of whole sentences.
The direct pronouns in Italian are:
Direct pronouns
mi
ti
lo, la
ci
vi
li, le
Direct pronouns have the function of direct object. Therefore, they are used when the verb is not followed by any preposition and they answer the question
“Who? What?”.
For example:
Anna compra il libro = Anna lo compra (Anna buys the book = Anna buys it)
In this case, the direct pronoun lo replaces the direct object: “il libro”.
The replacement is very easy to do, you just have to keep this in mind:
Direct pronouns (weak) Direct pronouns (strong)
mi me
ti te
ci noi
vi voi
li, le loro
Let’s try to replace the “strong” direct pronouns with the “weak” direct pronouns. Here you are some examples:
Mario sogna me = Mario mi sogna (Mario dreams about me)
Marta notava te e Luca (voi) = Marta vi notava (Marta noticed you and Luca = Marta noticed you)
Miriam ha venduto le case (loro) = Miriam le ha vendute* (Miriam sold the houses = Miriam sold them)
*Why “visti” instead of “visto” and “vendute” instead of “venduto” even though there is the auxiliary verb avere?
The answer is quite easy: when you put a direct pronoun before a verb in the “passato prossimo”, its past participle has to agree with gender and number
of the subject, even though you’re using the verb “avere” as an auxiliary.
For example:
– Hai comprato le mele? (Did you buy apples?)
– Sì, le ho comprate! (Yes, I bought them!)
Italians use “weak” direct pronouns a lot! In fact, you will rarely hear sentences like:
Mario sogna me
or
Luca ha visto noi
As you might have noticed, direct pronouns usually go before the verb, except in five cases, in which they are put after the verb.
First case:
1) If there are two verbs joined by a preposition:
Verrò a trovarti domani! (I’ll come see you tomorrow!)
Giungo per portarti cattive notizie. (I’m here to bring you bad news)