In Italian, like in many languages, personal pronouns change based on their grammatical function. There are direct object (accusative/ablative) personal pronouns and indirect object (dative) personal pronouns. These two are further divided into two more categories of pronouns: stressed and unstrssed personal pronouns.
Please note: different textbooks will divide and categories these pronouns differently (i.e. saying that the Direct Object personal pronouns are mi, ti, lo, etc) in order to facilitate the process of learning.
Note: I have completely ignored reflexive pronouns.
Subject personal pronouns
lui* (egli), esso - he, it (m.)
lei* (ella), essa - she, it (f.)
loro, essi/esse - them (m./f.), them (m.), them (f.)
*lui and egli are both used identically (i.e. have both the same function), but lui is by far the most common choice, especially in non-literary contexts.
*lei is slowly replacing ella, which only survives in literary works.
Direct Object personal pronouns
A Direct Object is the recipient (i.e. a person, animal or thing) of the action of a transitive verb. All transitive verbs have a direct object, e.g. mangio la mela (la mela = direct object of the verb mangiare).
lui (egli), esso - lo, lui
lei (ella), essa - la, lei
essi/esse, loro - loro, li, le
Now consider these examples sentences and pay careful attention to the changes.
abbiamo invitato Luca alla festa (we invited Luca to the party) > lo abbiamo invitato (we invited him)
beve un succo di frutta (s/he drinks a fruit juice) > lo beve (s/he drinks it)
sto leggendo dei libri (I’m reading some books) > li sto leggendo (I’m reading them)
Indirect Object personal pronouns
An Indirect Object is a pronoun used as a recipient (i.e. a person, animal or thing) of the action of a transitive verb, but is NOT the primary object, e.g. gli ho dato un libro (gli = ‘to him’ is the indirect object, un libro = ‘a book’ is the direct object).
lei (ella), essa - le / gli*
essi/essa, loro - loro / gli**
*gli in lieu of le is common and acceptable in informal contexts.
**gli in lieu of loro has been in use for centuries now, literary works as well, but to this day it’s still regarded as incorrect in Standard/Formal Italian despite it having a valid etymological explanation.
Consider these examples sentences and pay careful attention to the changes.
ho dato un regalo agli studenti (I gave a gift to the students) > ho dato loro un regalo [or] gli ho dato un regalo (I gave them a gift)
ha detto una bugia alla madre (s/he told a lie to her mother) > le ha detto una bugia (she told her a lie)
mando una lettera a mio padre (I sent a letter to my father) > gli mando una lettera (I send him a letter)
As already mentioned above, personal pronouns also change based on their position in the sentence. They can thus be divided into stressed and unstressed objective personal pronouns.
Despite being almost identical to the D.O. personal pronouns, Stressed Object pronouns can cover more functions and are regarded as ‘free forms’ or ‘oblique pronouns’. Stressed Object pronouns have mainly three characteristics: (1) they appear on their own in the sentence, (2) are not attached to verbs as clitics, (3) and are usually proceeded by a variety of prepositions such as di, a, da, in, con, etc. that trigger the use of the stressed pronouns.
Marco ama te (Marco loves you)
Elena ha scelto lui (Elena has chosen him)
Grazia è venuta per te (Grazie came for you)
In Marco ama te, te means ‘specifically you’. Similarly In the second sentence lui means ‘specifically or especially him’. Lastly, in the final example, the use of te is triggered by the preposition per ‘for’.
Unstressed Object personal pronouns OR clitics
Unstressed Object personal pronouns always accompany a verb, which they can either follow or precede, and have no stress of their own. They are also called clitics because they are invisibly glued to their host (a verb) and cannot stand alone. Unstressed personal pronouns can be either proclitic or enclitic.
Proclitic personal pronouns appear before their host.
ti do un bacio sulla guancia (I give you a kiss on the cheek)
ci hanno dato un regalo (they gave us a present)
vi ho chiamato due volte (I called you [pl.] twice)
Joining direct and indirect personal pronouns
What happens when you join both direct and indirect personal pronouns? Consider the following example:
mi ha mandato la lettera (s/he has sent me the letter) > me l’ha mandata (s/he sent it to me)
Here la lettera is the direct object, while mi is the indirect object. In the second sentence l’ (la) is the direct object pronoun meaning la lettera,while me is still the indirect object.
When both the direct and the indirect object are present in the same sentence, the indirect object change form.
io - me lo / me la / me li / me le
tu - te lo / te la / te li / te le
lui (egli), esso - glielo / gliela / glieli / gliele
lei (ella), essa - glielo / gliela / glieli / gliele
noi - ce lo / ce la / ce li / ce le
voi - ve lo / ve la / ve li / ve le
gliel’ha regalata sua zia (her auntie gave it to him/her)
ce lo diranno domani (they will tell it to us tomorrow)
te li do oggi (I’ll give them to you today)
If you find any mistakes please send me a message.
