Oh, pronouns! Last week we saw them in certain expressions. This week, let’s take a look at indirect and direct object pronouns in more detail.

Learning these little important tidbits in any language always seems to be a bit of a pain, and in Italian it’s no different. But without them we would sound repetitive and strange! So here is a quick explanation:

Indirect Object Pronouns

IDOPs will be used to answer the question “to whom?” or “for whom?”

We will see these IDOPs with verbs that take the preposition ‘a’ in Italian. You will see that some verbs take an IDOP in Italian even though in English the verb is direct.*

Let’s see some of these common IDOP verbs: 

Scrivere a qualcuno – to write to someone

*Dare a qualcuno – to give to someone 

*Telefonare a qualcuno – to call to someone

Mandare a qualcuno – to send to someone 

Portare a qualcuno – to bring to someone 

*Domandare a qualcuno – to ask to someone 

Dire a qualcuno – to say to someone 

Parlare a qualcuno – to speak to someone

**Piacere a qualcuno – to like [be pleasing] to someone (Italians say that is liking [pleasing] to me.)

Here are the IDOPs:

 

Pronomi personali	Pronomi indiretti
Io	Mi (a me)
Tu	Ti (a te)
Lui	Gli (a lui)
Lei	Le (a lei)
Noi	Ci (a noi)
Voi	Vi (a voi)
Loro	Gli (a loro)
Loro	Loro (a loro)

 

Qualche esempio:

Mi piace giocare – I like to play (Literally, playing is pleasing to me)

Mi piaci – I like you (you are pleasing to me)

Le scrivo una lettera – I am writing a letter to her.

Ci domandi qualcosa? – Are you asking (to) us something?

*Non gli parlo – I’m not speaking to them

*Non parlo loro – I’m not speaking to them

* In the third person plural form, there are two possibilities as seen in the example above. You could either use “gli” and put it before the verb, or use “loro” and put it after the verb.

Direct Object Pronouns

DOPs answer the question “who?” and “what?” These are used with verbs that do not take the preposition ‘a’ in Italian.

Some verbs that take direct object pronouns In Italian, that are actually indirect in English:

Ascoltare – to listen to 

Aspettare – to wait for

Cercare – to search for 

Guardare – to look at 

Notice there is no need for the preposition in Italian! Below you will find the complete list of DOPs and then some examples:

 

Pronomi personali	Pronomi diretti
Io	Mi
Tu	Ti
Lui	Lo
Lei	La
Noi	Ci
Voi	Vi
Loro (maschile)	Li
Loro (femminile)	Le

Qualche esempio: 

Mi ascolti? – Are you listening (to) me?

Lo aspetto – I am waiting (for) him

Li cerchiamo – We are looking (for) them

Mi invita – He is inviting me

Lo compro – I’m buying it

Double Object Pronouns

In sentences where you need to use both a direct and indirect object pronoun, these pronouns will combine and slightly change. Essentially, the vowel in mi, ti, ci, vi changes from ‘i’ to an ‘e’, and then in the gli form an ‘e’ is added and the pronouns are combined into one word.

Check out the table below to see the combinations:

 

	Lo	La	Li	Le
Mi	Me lo	Me la	Me li	Me le
Ti	Te lo	Te la	Te la	Te le
Gli/Le	Glielo	Gliela	Glieli	Gliele
Ci	Ce lo	Ce la	Ce li	Ce le
Vi	Ve lo	Ve la	Ve li	Ve le
Gli/Loro	Glielo	Gliela	Glieli	Gliele

 

Qualche esempio:

Me lo prenderesti? – Would you loan it to me?

Glielo scrivo  – I’m writing it to him

Ve li domandiamo – We ask it to all of you

Would you like to practice? Check out this link for some indirect, direct, and combined object pronoun practice! Let me know how it goes in the comments below!