Personal pronouns are little words that replace persons or things: he, she,
they, it, me, her etc. Personal pronouns can play the role of subjects or be in
a different role. For instance, in the sentence I eat a food, I is a subject,
but in the sentence That lion wants to eat me, me is the object.
Other pronouns (not personal) also replace nouns, with a more specific usage.
For instance, this can replace a noun, with a meaning similar to it (or he/she),
e.g. in the sentence this is good for you.
The types of object pronouns are:
» Italian subject pronouns
» Italian object pronouns
» Italian possessive pronuns
» Italian relative pronouns
Subject Pronouns: Subject Pronouns are often omitted, since
the verb form indicates the subject:
Since the endings of conjugated verb forms indicate person and number,
subject pronouns may be omitted in Italian except when necessary: (1) for
clarity, (2) when modified by anche (also), or (3) when emphasis or contrast is
desired. Examples:
- Io ho freddo » I, for my part,
am cold
- Lui detesta il film » He hates
the movie
- Vorrebbe Lei venire con me? » Would
you like to come with me?
It and they referring to things are almost never used in Italian and need not
be translated. Below you can see a table with subject pronouns:
| Persons |
Singular |
Plural |
|
| 1st. person |
io » I |
noi » we |
| 2nd. person familiar |
tu » you |
voi » you |
| 2nd. person polite* |
Lei » you |
Loro » You |
| 3rd. person |
lui » him |
loro » them |
| lei »her |
loro » them |
| esso » it (m.) |
essi » them (m.) |
| essa » it (f.) |
esse » them (f.) |
In modern Italian he, she, and
they are usually expressed by lui, lei, and
loro, respectively. (Egli, ella, essi, and esse are used more
in written Italian than in the spoken language. Esso and essa are
seldom used.) Examples:
- Tu ricevi una cartolina » You receive a postcard
- Io arrivo alle otto » I arrive at 8
- Lui entra in aula » He enters to the classroom
- Sono felice » We are happy
Personal pronouns are the only part of the sentence in which Italian makes a
distinction between masculine/feminine and neutre. Neutre gender is used for
objects, plants and animals except man; but this distinction does not cause any
important change, because all other parts of the sentence (nouns, verb
inflections, adjectives, etc.) do not have a neutre gender, which is simply
handled by using either masculine or feminine.
Object Pronouns: Object Pronouns are either direct or
indirect, and cannot stand alone without a verb. The direct object
receives the action of the verb directly while the indirect object is indirectly
affected by it.
(*) Note that second person polite form pronouns are
capitalized.
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