Molto Bene Italian
Direct Object Pronouns
Pronomi Diretti
Direct objects are the nouns in a phrase that receive the action of the verb. In the
sentence “I love you”, the direct object is “you” and “I” is the subject.
In Italian, when the objects are personal pronouns - like “you” - they change from their
subject form: tu becomes ti. This is similar to English when “I” changes to “me”. You say
“he loves me”, rather than “he loves I”.
There are two positions objects can have in the word order of a sentence. In the
indicative tenses, it can come directly before the first verb in the phrase:
Io ti amo.
I love you.
Or, it can be attached to the last verb of the phrase, which is required for the imperative
mood but optional for the indicative:
Amami.
Love me.
Like the personal subject pronouns, the direct object pronouns also have both a formal
and informal as well as singular and plural “you”.
mi
me
Second-person
ti
you
Third-person
lo
him / it
La
you
la
her / it
First-person
ci
us
Second-person
vi
you all
Third-person
Li
you all
li
them
Le
you all
le
them
Plural
Singular
First-person
si
himself / herself / itself / themselves
Examples
Vuoi conoscermi meglio?
Do you want to get to know me better?
Vorrei parlarti.
I would like to speak with you.
Non penso di conoscerlo bene.
I don't think I know him well.
Vuoi che la andiamo a cercare?
Do you want me to go find her?
Vorrei presentarla ai miei genitori.
I would like to introduce you to my parents.
Non si comportano mai bene con gli ospiti.
They don't behave well with guests.
Non ci stiamo in sei in macchina.
Six of us won't fit in the car.
Vi vediamo arrivare dalla strada.
We can see you coming from the street.
Li conosco molto bene.
I know them very well.
Vai a vederle domani?
Are you going to see them tomorrow?
Li incontreremo al concerto.
We are going to meet you guys at the concert.
Vorrei omaggiarle con dei fiori.
I would like to give you some flowers.
© 2015 Pangaea Learning, LLC - For educational use only
© 2015 Pangaea Learning, LLC - For educational use only