PRONOUNS — I PRONOMI

This page is divided into six sections organised as follows:

1. Direct Object Pronouns
2. Indirect Object Pronouns
3. Reflexive Pronouns
4. Disjunctive Pronouns
5. The pronoun “ ne”
6. Rules for using two pronouns before the verb

Pronouns are words which take the place of nouns.

In Italian there are four types of pronouns; they sometimes have horrendous technical names but they are quite easy. They are given below with their grammatical names and a translation into English.

There is also a special pronoun ne which is in a class of its own.

1 DIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS:

To see how to use them click here.

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2 INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS:

To see how to use them click here.

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3 REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS:

To see how to use them click here.

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4 DISJUNCTIVE PRONOUNS (used after prepositions)

To see how to use them, click here.

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5 THE PRONOUN ne.

This pronoun is very idiomatic. Spend a little time with it and try to master it, especially if you are doing Higher Writing.

Rules:

1. It stands before the verb or before the auxiliary verb in compound tenses.

2. It is attached to the end of the infinitive, gerundio and imperative to form one word.

3. It follows the rule about using two pronouns before the verb. Check it out in the next section.

4  In compound tenses, when ne replaces the direct object, the past participle agrees with the direct object:—
    Quante bottiglie di vino hai comprato? — Ne ho comprate dieci.
    = How many bottles of wine did you buy? — I bought ten.

1. Nemeans “of it; of them”. It frequently does not need to be translated into English: e.g.:

1. Hai molti esami? — Sì, ne ho sette.
= Do you have many exams? Yes, I have seven (of them)

2. Hai fatto tutti gli esercizi? — No. Però, ne ho fatti tre.
= Have you done all the exercises? No. But I've done three (of them)

Although English not have an equivalent for ne in the type of sentences shown above, you must remember to use it in Italian.

2. This pronoun replaces a prepositional phrase beginning with di, and it does need to be translated into English. For example:

1. Hai paura del cane? — No, non ne ho paura.
= Are you frightened of the dog? No, I'm not frightened of it.

2. Carlo parla mai della sua infanzia? — Sì, ne parla spesso.
= Does Carlo ever talk about his childhood? Yes, he often talks about it.

You could find that you need to use this pronoun if you are dealing with one of the common verbs or expressions which are followed by di. Here are the commonest; try to learn them:

For example:

1. Ti sei accorto di quanto costava la macchina? — Sì, me ne sono accorto.
  = Did you notice how much the car cost? — Yes, I noticed (it).

2. Ti ricordi della scuola materna? — No, non me ne ricordo niente.
  = Do you remember your nursery school? — No, I don't remember anything about it.

3. Cosa sai di Sardegna? — Non ne so molto.
  = What do you know about Sardinia? — I don't know much about it.

3. This pronoun also replaces expressions consisting of da + place. For example:

1. Ha aperto la borsetta e ne ha preso una fotografia.
    = She opened her handbag and took a photograph out of it.

2. A che ora tuo marito è uscito dall'ufficio? — Ne è uscito alle sette e mezzo.
   = What time did your husband leave the office? He left it at 7.30.

4. This pronoun also has some idiomatic usages which have no equivalent in English. The only one which you should be familiar with is with the reflexive form of the verb andare. This produces the verb andarsene which means “to leave; go away”. Although there is no equivalent in English, in French you may have met the verb s'en aller . Here is the verb in its present and perfect tenses. This verb cannot take a direct object.

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6 RULES ABOUT USING TWO PRONOUNS.

Look at these sentences:

1. I bought her a present but forgot to give her it.
2. We sent for their autographs and they said they would give us them.

There are two pronouns highlighted in each one. English speakers often have problems translating this kind of sentence into Italian because they are not quite sure what pronouns to use. the sentences actually mean:

1. I bought a present for her, but I forgot to give it to her.
2. We sent for their autographs and they said they would sent them to us.

So, in the first sentence it is a direct object pronoun and to her is an indirect object pronoun.
Similarly in the second sentence, them is a direct object pronoun and to us is an indirect object pronoun.

In Italian there is a rule which governs the order in which these pronouns are used, namely:
indirect object followed by direct object.

This causes a slight change of spelling: pronouns which normally end in i change this letter to e. This is more complicated than it should be and perhaps the best way to grapple with it is to look at the following table where two pronouns are used.The first pronoun means "to me" , "to you" etc.; lo and la mean "it", and li and le mean "them". You'll see that the pronoun gli means "to him" or "to her" or "to them" and it combines into one word with the direct object pronouns lo, la, li, le.

So, look at how these English senteces translate into Italian:

1. They bought a scooter and gave me it for my birthday
   Hanno comprato un motorino e me l'hanno regalato per il mio compleanno.
2. She doesn't have your telephone number; I'll send her it with my letter.
   Non ha il tuo numero telefonico; glielo mando con la mia lettera.
3. They already have the results; when will they give us them?
   Hanno già i risultati; quando ce li daranno?
4. He has a new car; he was showing her it.
   Ha una nuova macchina; gliela mostrava.

As with single pronouns, both of these pronouns get attached to the end of the infinitive, gerundio, or imperative, so the last sentence could also be : Ha una nuova macchina; stava mostrandogliela.

When added to an infinitive or imperative, pairs of pronouns can make the verb look very strange, e.g.

Ti ho comprato qualcosa; quando posso dartela? = I bought something for you; when can I give you it?
Mi hanno chiesto di spiegarglielo = They asked me to explain it to them.
Quelle sigarette sono le mie; dammele subito. Those cigarettes are mine; give me them immediately.

The same rules apply to reflexive pronouns used with direct object pronoun,e.g.

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