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What are direct object pronouns in Italian?

By: Miriam Muccione Thu May 16 2024
Italian
Pronouns

Direct object pronouns are words like mi(me), ti(you), lo(him), la(her), or ci(us), that replace a person/thing that is the direct object of a sentence. You use direct object pronouns in English too. In fact, you use them all the time! But in Italian, direct object pronouns often come before the verb and not after!

In this post, we’ll review the direct object pronouns in Italian and talk about where to put them in a sentence, and show you some special rules about using direct object pronouns in compound tenses like the passato prossimo. Let’s check them out!

Table of Contents

    When to use a direct object pronoun in Italian?

    In Italian we use direct object pronouns (or DOPs) to replace the direct object of a verb. This is usually the noun that is directly affected by or directly undergoes the action. Importantly, the direct object of a verb will never come after a preposition.

    Marina ha ordinato quattro pizze. → Marina le ha ordinate.

    Marina ordered four pizzas. → Marina ordered them.

    → The pizzas undergo the action (being ordered) so we replace them with a direct object pronoun
    Important

    If the object of a verb does come after a preposition, you’ll need to use another kind of pronoun, called an indirect object pronoun, to replace it. You can read more about indirect object pronouns in our post on Italian indirect object pronouns.

    In Italian, there are two different types of direct object pronouns, and we use them in slightly different circumstances:

    • Unstressed DOPs → these are the most common

    • Stressed DOPs → these are only used for emphasis (we’ll talk more about them below!)

    We’ll talk first about unstressed DOPs, then we can look at the stressed ones. Let’s get going!

    What are the unstressed direct object pronouns in Italian?

    The unstressed direct object pronouns in Italian are given in the table below.

    Direct Object Pronoun
    Example
    Translation

    mi

    Tu mi chiami.

    You call me.

    ti

    Lo ti chiamo.

    I call you.

    la

    Noi la chiamiamo.

    We call her / it.

    lo

    Lei lo chiama.

    She calls him / it.

    ci

    Loro ci chiamano.

    They call us.

    vi

    Lui vi chiama.

    He calls you (plural).

    li

    Tu li chiami.

    (masculine them)

    You call them.

    le

    Tu le chiami.

    (feminine them)

    A few things to keep in mind:

    • There is no “it,” in Italian! Use the gender of the noun to decide whether you should use la (feminine), or lo (masculine).

    • We use il for "they" unless you are talking about a group that is 100% feminine, in which case you can use le.

    Important

    La and lo become l' before vowels and “h”:

    Avevo sentito un rumore.

    I heard a noise.

    ✅ L’avevo sentito.

    I heard it.

    ❌ Lo avevo sentito.

    Hanno visitato una chiesa.

    They visited a church.

    ✅ L’hanno visitata.

    They visited it.

    ❌ La hanno visitata.

    But remember... le and il do not become l' before vowels/h. They stay the same!

    Three steps for a correct DOP in Italian

    Now that we know the forms, let's learn three simple steps for how to put them in a sentence:

    • Find the direct object of the sentence.

      The subject of a sentence answers the question “who verbed?”

      The direct object of a sentence answers the questions “verbed what?” or “verbed who?” and it is the person/thing that receives the action of the verb.

      subjectverbdirect object

      Marina ha ordinato quattro pizze.

      Marina ordered four pizzas.

      • Who ordered? Marina → Marina is the subject

      • Ordered what? Four pizzas → Four pizzas is the direct object! ✌

    • What’s the English direct object pronoun?

      Think of how you would ask in English, “Has Marina ordered the four pizzas?” without repeating “four pizzas”:

      Has Marina ordered them?

      "them” is the English DOP for the direct object “four pizzas.”

    • What’s the Italian equivalent?

      When we consult the table above, we see that “them” in Italian can be either il or le. How do we decide?

      Because the object we’ve replaced, pizze, is feminine plural, the pronoun will be le, as they need to agree.

      Result:

      Le ha ordinate?

      How could we answer this question with a DOP? 🤔

      Marina le ha ordinate ieri sera.

      Marina ordered them yesterday evening.

    There are two big differences between the original sentence, Maria ha ordinato quattro pizze, and the final sentence Marina le ha ordinate:

    • The verb is different! In the full form it is ha ordinato, when we used the direct object pronoun, we said ha ordinate. The past participle agrees with le!

    • The word order is different! In the full form, quattro pizze came after the verb, but le comes before the verb.

    Let’s talk first about when and why the past participle agrees with the direct object pronoun, and then we can go through the rules about where to put direct object pronouns in a sentence.

    When does the past participle agree with the direct object pronoun?

    The past participle will agree with the gender and number a direct object pronoun in compound tenses that use the verb avere(have).

    There are four main compound tenses in Italian: passato prossimo(present perfect), trapassato prossimo(past perfect), futuro anteriore(future perfect), trapassato remoto(past anterior). These can technically be formed in two ways: essere(be) + past participle, or avere(have) + past participle.

    But avere(to have) is the auxiliary for all transitive verbs (those verbs that have a direct object). This means that if we’re using a DOP, the compound tense of that verb is always formed with avere.

    So, any time you use a direct object pronoun with a compound tense, the past participle will need to agree in gender and number with the object! The endings are the same as for adjectives:

    • masculine singular: -o

    • feminine singular: -a

    • masculine plural: -i

    • feminine plural: -e

    Let’s look at an example in the passato prossimo, as this is the most-used past tense in Italian:

    • Hai chiamato Lucia?

      Did you call Lucia?

    • Sì, l’ho chiamata e ci ha invitato a vedere la partita insieme.

      Yes, I called her and she invited us to watch the soccer game together.

      → Lucia (f. sg.) becomes la, la becomes l' before “h”, and the past participle becomes chiamata

    • Perfetto! Ha invitato anche Matteo?

      Perfect! Did she invite Matteo as well?

    • SÌ, l’ha invitato.

      Yes, she invited him.

      → Matteo (m. sg.) becomes lo, lo becomes l' before “h”, and the past participle stays invitato (because the default ending is the same as the masculine singular one)

      Ha detto che preparerà le patate al limone.

      He said he will make lemon roasted potatoes.

    • Non le ho mai provate… come sono?

      I have never tried them… what are they like?

      → patate (f. pl.) becomes le, and the past participle becomes provate

    • Sono deliziose!

      They are delicious!

      Ehi, hai comprato i profiteroles al cioccolato bianco che Lucia adora?

      Hey, did you buy the white chocolate profiteroles that Lucia loves?

    • Non ancora, ma li ho prenotati in pasticceria!

      Not yet, but I have reserved them at the pastry shop!

      → profiteroles (m. pl.) becomes il, and the past participle becomes prenotati

    Notice that when we replace the direct object noun with a DOP, we place it in front of avere and we do the gender and number agreement between the DOP and the past participle of the compound verb.

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    Where to put direct object pronouns in Italian sentences?

    In Italian, we most often put direct object pronouns before the verb. For example:

    direct object pronounverb

    Non la vedo da anni!

    I haven’t seen her for ages!

    However, there are five situations in which the pronoun comes after the verb. Let’s go over these situations next!

    1. Direct object pronouns follow the imperative

    In Italian, direct object pronouns are placed after an Italian imperative verb and attached to it.

    Imagine you are trying to call a friend and he is not replying. So, you send him a text to tell him to call you back. In English you would say:

    “Please, call me when you are free!”

    • “call” = imperative (command) verb

    • “me” = direct object pronoun

    Now, let’s form that same sentence together in Italian:

    • The verb “to call” in Italian is chiamare.

    • The tu form of chiamare in the imperative is chiama.

    • The direct object pronoun “me” is mi.

    • Get chiama, put mi at the end of it.

    • Blend them together and the result is: Chiamami.

    So our final sentence is:

    Per favore, chiamami quando sei libero!

    Please call me when you are free!

    2. Direct object pronouns can follow infinitive verbs

    Direct object pronouns can either come before the verb that works with the infinitive verb or attached to the end of the infinitive (after dropping the final “e”).

    This will happen, for example, when you use modal verbs such as dovere(have to), potere(can), volere(want) — or another verb that is typically followed by an infinitive, such as sapere(to know or to be able to), sperare(to hope), cercare(to try), andare(to go), etc.

    Here’s an example:

    main verbinfinitive

    Oggi devo chiamare mio fratello.

    Today, I have to call my brother.

    Let’s transform this sentence by substituting the object mio fratello with the direct object pronoun, which in this case is lo(him).

    We have two options:

    • Direct object pronoun before the main verb:

      direct object pronounmain verb

      Lo devo chiamare oggi.

      I have to call him today.

    • Direct object pronoun attached to the infinitive with the final “e” removed:

      infinitivedirect object pronoun

      Devo chiamarlo oggi.

      I have to call him today.

    Tip

    Both option 1 and 2 are valid! They are 100 percent equivalent and you can choose the one that you like the most. 😊

    3. Direct object pronouns follow gerunds

    Direct object pronouns are attached to the ending of gerunds in Italian. For example:

    Accendendo il telefonino in un cinema si può disturbare la visione alle persone in sala.

    Turning on one’s mobile phone in a cinema can disturb the viewing of the people in the theater.

    ↓

    Tenendolo spento si può vedere il film senza distrazioni.

    By keeping it off, you can watch the film without distractions.

    4. Direct object pronouns follow the verb 'Ecco!'

    The emphatic adverb ecco!(here x is) is often combined with direct object pronouns to express that someone is arriving, something has been found, etc. You place the direct object pronoun at the end, attached to ecco___!

    Ecco + mi

    Eccomi!(Here I am!)

    Ecco + ti

    Eccoti!(Here you are!)

    Ecco + lo

    Eccolo!(Here he/it is!)

    Ecco + la

    Eccola!(Here she/it is!)

    Ecco + ci

    Eccoci!(Here we are!)

    Ecco + vi

    Eccovi!(Here you are!)

    Ecco + li

    Eccoli!(Here they are!)

    5. Stressed direct object pronouns always follow the verb

    The second kind of direct object pronouns, called stressed direct object pronouns will always follow the verb. We use them, in Italian, when we want to underline that we are referring to something/someone specific (and not someone/something else) to clarify and avoid confusion. In English, we would do this with vocal emphasis instead, as in: “I call you.” For example:

    verbstressed direct object pronoun

    Ho chiamato te e non loro per un motivo.

    I called you and not them for a reason.

    The stressed direct object pronouns mostly look just like subject pronouns, except in two situations:

    • io(I) becomes me(me)

    • tu(you) becomes te(you)

    English sentences with DOP
    Italian translation with stressed DOP
    Italian stressed DOP

    You call me.

    Tu chiami me.

    me

    I call you.

    Io chiamo te.

    te

    I call her/it.

    Io chiamo lei.

    lei

    I call him/it.

    Io chiamo lui.

    lui

    They call us.

    Loro chiamano noi.

    noi

    I call you all.

    Io chiamo voi.

    voi

    I call them.

    Io chiamo loro.

    loro

    To summarize

    Here are the most important take-aways about direct object pronouns in Italian:

    • Direct object pronouns replace the object of a sentence that has been previously mentioned

    • When “it” is the direct object, we translate it as either la or lo, depending on the gender of the object

    • “Them” in Italian is masculine plural li unless all the nouns in the group are feminine, in which case it is le

    • La and lo before a vowel or an “h” become l', while le and li stay the same

    • There are four steps to identify and use the correct DOP

      • Find the direct object

      • Think of the English DOP for that object

      • Find the Italian equivalent

      • In tenses like passato prossimo, the past participle agrees in gender and number with the object

    • DOPs go before the verb, unless you have an imperative, an infinitive, a gerund, the expression ecco, or are using a stressed direct object pronoun.

    Now, click the link to practice Direct Object Pronouns in Italian!

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