Italian Grammar Bank
ITALIAN PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Personal pronouns are key words in the Italian language, used to replace the names of people or things spoken of.
Personal pronouns in Italian are divided into different categories, depending on the person (first, second or third) and the number (singular or plural).
Let’s look at them together!
WHAT IS A PRONOUN?
The pronoun is that variable part of speech that replaces the noun and makes it possible to avoid annoying repetitions that can lead to confusion.
EXAMPLE || La mamma di Chiara chiede a Chiara di accompagnare la mamma a fare compere
Reading this sentence, you will immediately notice that the form is not very pleasant and the meaning is unnecessarily complicated by the continuous repetition of the two nouns. How can this be solved?
It’s easy, just use pronouns!
By substituting them within the sentence, the result is as follows:
Better, isn’t it?
Discover how to use personal pronouns and learn to distinguish their functions within the sentence.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Do you remember the six persons of the verb?
Io vedo, tu vedi, egli vede, noi vediamo, voi vedete, essi vedono.
All the highlighted words are personal pronouns, which tell us who the person performing the action is.
Read on to learn about the other personal pronouns and learn how to choose the correct forms according to their role in the sentence.
PERSONAL SUBJECT PRONOUNS
The personal pronouns that can be used as subjects correspond to the six people of the verb:
As you can see, the first and second person, both singular and plural, have only one form.
The situation becomes a bit more complicated with the third person:
· in the singular, egli and ella are used when the subject of the sentence is a person, egli in the masculine and ella in the feminine; esso and essa are used when the subject of the sentence is an animal or a thing;
· in the plural the forms essi and esse are used for any kind of subject, person, animal or thing;
· and what about lui, lei and loro? The forms he, she, they are little used in speech and have therefore gradually been replaced, or at least flanked, especially in the less refined writings, by the pronouns he, she and they, felt to be simpler and more colloquial.
| Io | I | |
| Tu | You | (informal) |
| Lui | He | |
| Lei | She | |
| Lei | You | (formal) |
| Noi | We | |
| Voi | You | (plural) |
| Loro | They | (masculine or feminine) |
See some sentence examples:
| Io studio italiano. | I study Italian |
| Lei lavora in ufficio. | She works at the office |
| Noi andiamo al cinema stasera. | We are going to the cinema tonight |
OBJECT COMPLEMENT
What are the personal object pronouns? Study them in the table opposite, each with its own person.
Within a sentence, in fact, the pronoun does not always occupy the place of the subject, but can also perform the function of object complement, the element on which the action expressed by the verb falls and which answers the question “Chi?” (who?), “Che cosa?” (what?).
In the sentence Giorgio saluta Elena Giorgio is the subject, while Elena is the object complement.
If we wanted to replace Elena with the appropriate pronoun, which form of the third person singular personal pronoun should we use?
Not that of the subject personal pronoun, but that of the object complement and the sentence would sound like this: Giorgio greets her .
Lo, la and le are also articles, but if you pay a little attention, you will realise that it is impossible to get confused: articles are in front of the noun, while pronouns replace it and stand before the verb.
| Mi | Me | |
| Ti | You | informal |
| Lo | Him/It | masculine |
| La | Her/It | feminine |
| Ci | Us | |
| Vi | You | plural |
| Li | Them | masculine |
| Le | Them | feminine |
Examples:
| Mi vedi? | Do you see me? |
| Ho comprato un libro e lo leggo ogni sera. | I bought a book and I read it every evening |
| Non trovo le chiavi, hai visto le? | I can’t find the keys, have you seen them? |
WITH INDIRECT COMPLEMENTS
Personal pronouns can also occupy the place of indirect complements. In fact, not all sentence elements are directly linked to the verb: there are also complements that need a preposition to introduce them. The personal pronouns to be used in these cases are:
· mi and me (first person singular) and noi and ci (first person plural) referring to the speaker;
· ti and te (second person singular) and voi and vi (second person plural) referring to the listener;
· gli, lui, si, sé, le, lei (third person singular) and loro e ne (third person plural) referring to the persons or things spoken of.
In the table opposite, you will find some examples to help you understand when to use the “weak forms” (mi, ti, gli, le, ci, vi, loro, ne) that do not want the preposition in front and when to choose the “strong forms” preceded by the preposition.
And what happened to sé and si? They are the two third person reflexive pronouns because they make the action expressed by the verb fall back on the subject performing it. How? Here are two examples:
| Giulia si pettina | Giulia pettina sé stessa | Giulia pettina Giulia |
| Giulia combs her hair | Giulia combs herself | Giulia combs Giulia |
| Andrea porta sempre con sé il suo pupazzo preferito | Andrea porta sempre con Andrea il suo pupazzo preferito |
| Andrea always takes his favourite puppet with him. | Andrea always takes his favourite puppet with Andrea. |
NOTE || Review how to use and conjugate reflexive verbs in Italian here.
If you pay attention, you will see that sé is spelled with the accent, while se stessa is spelled without: sé in fact always wants the accent unless it is accompanied by the same or the same adjective.
FORMAL PRONOUN: LEI
As you well know, in informal relationships (between family members, friends and, in general, people who know each other well) we address each other with “tu” (you).
Things get complicated, however, when we are in front of people we do not know or with whom we are not familiar (our doctor, professor, lawyer…).
In these cases, we have to be more formal and use the pronoun “Lei”.
Now, concerning the Lei, there are a few rules you need to know:
1) First of all, when writing, it would be appropriate to signal the Lei pronoun of courtesy with the first letter capitalised (e.g.: Per caso Lei gradirebbe un altro po’ di tè? ), to distinguish it from the common 3rd person singular pronoun (e.g.: Eccola, lei è Maria ).
2) Another thing you have to remember is that direct and indirect pronouns, as well as adjectives and possessive pronouns, should also be capitalized if they refer to a person we want to address by giving them more respect.
3) Last thing to know is that even when addressing a man, the form of politeness always remains the same (e.g.: Signor Rossi, lei è molto astuto )!
| Lei vuole un caffè? | Would you like a coffee? |
| Come sta, Lei? | How are you? |
| Lei ha bisogno di assistenza? | Do you need assistance? |
MISTAKES TO AVOID
As you have seen, the personal pronouns are many and there are several mischievous forms to remember. Let us try to recapitulate them so as not to make mistakes:
· mi and ti mean to me and to you respectively: therefore you cannot say “a me mi…” because that would be like repeating “a me a me” (to me) twice;
· gli is the pronoun used as an indirect complement to the third person singular masculine: using it instead of the feminine le or the plural loro is a mistake;
· the pronominal particle ne should be written without accent to distinguish it from the conjunction né (neither): Non sta né in cielo né in terra (It is neither in heaven nor on earth);
· the third person singular reflexive pronoun sé is written accented to avoid confusion with the conditional conjunction se: Se finisci i compiti, potrai andare a giocare (If you finish your homework, you can go and play). However, when it is accompanied by stesso or medesimo, it is written without accent;
· the reflexive particle si should always be written without accent to distinguish it from the affirmative sì (yes) with accent;
· the particles mi, ti, si, ci, vi and le all have a dual function: they can act as an object complement with the meaning of me, te, sé, noi, voi and esse or as a dative complement instead of a me, a te, a sé, a noi, a voi, a lei.
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FAQs
What is the difference between tu and lei?
“Tu” is used for informal situations when speaking to someone you know well, such as a friend or family member.
“Lei” is the formal version and is used to show respect, typically with strangers, elders, or in professional settings.
Do Italian pronouns change gender?
Italian personal pronouns reflect gender in the third person singular and plural.
For example, “lui” refers to “he,” and “lei” refers to “she.” In the plural, “loro” can mean “they” for both genders, but verbs and adjectives agree with the gender of the subjects.
Can I omit pronouns when speaking in Italian?
In Italian, subject pronouns (like “io,” “tu,” “lui”) are often omitted because the verb conjugation usually makes it clear who the subject is.
However, pronouns are used for emphasis or clarity.
What are Italian reflexive pronouns?
Reflexive pronouns (like “mi,” “ti,” “si”) are used when the subject and the object of the verb are the same person, such as in “mi lavo” (I wash myself).
These differ from subject pronouns, which indicate who is performing the action (e.g., “io” for “I”).
Where can I find more lessons like this?
You can find more free grammar lessons in our Italian Grammar Bank here.
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