The lesson
Compri il pane? Sì, compro il pane. It’s correct, but nobody talks like that. An Italian says Sì, lo compro: Yes, I’ll buy it. Lo is a direct object pronoun: it stands for the thing or person the verb acts on, so you don’t have to repeat the noun.
English has the same idea (it, him, her, them), but Italian works differently in three ways. The pronoun goes before the verb, it changes with the noun’s gender and number, and in the passato prossimo the participle agrees with it. This lesson takes them one at a time.
The forms: mi, ti, lo, la, ci, vi, li, le
Each object pronoun has a subject pronoun partner you already know. The subject does the action; the object receives it. Lui compra il pane (he buys the bread), but lo conosco (I know him).
For it and them, choose by the Italian noun: lo for a masculine singular noun, la for a feminine one, li for a masculine or mixed plural, le for a feminine plural. The same words mean him, her and them for people.
| subject | object | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| io | mi | me |
| tu | ti | you |
| lui | lo | him, it (m.) |
| lei | la | her, it (f.) |
| Lei | La | you (formal) |
| noi | ci | us |
| voi | vi | you all |
| loro | li · le | them (m. · f.) |
Follow the Italian noun, not the English word: gli spaghetti are plural, so li cucino, even though English says I’ll cook it.
Before the verb
The pronoun goes right before the conjugated verb, the opposite of English: I buy it is lo compro, she knows me is mi conosce. In statements and questions it never goes after the verb: compro lo is wrong.
With non, the order is non + pronoun + verb: non lo compro. Questions keep the same order, with a rising voice: Mi senti? (Can you hear me?)
People: me, you, us, and formal La
Mi, ti, ci and vi are for people: Ti aspetto al bar (I’ll wait for you at the café), Anna ci invita a cena (Anna is inviting us to dinner). In a question and its answer they flip: Mi senti? Sì, ti sento.
For the formal you, use La, for a man or a woman, just as the formal subject is Lei: Signora, La chiamo domani, Dottore, La ringrazio. Don’t put Lei before the verb as the object: it’s the subject form.
lo and la become l’
Before a vowel, lo and la usually shorten to l’: l’aspetto (I’ll wait for him, or her). Before the forms of avere that start with h (ho, hai, ha, hanno), they always do: l’ho, l’hai, l’ha.
Li and le never shorten: li aspetto, le ho. So l’ can only be lo or la, one person or thing.
Before other vowels, l’aspetto is more usual, but la aspetto is also correct. Before ho, always write l’ho.
In the passato prossimo: l’ho vista
In the passato prossimo the pronoun goes before avere, and the participle agrees with lo, la, li, le like an adjective: -o, -a, -i, -e. Ho visto Anna becomes l’ho vista; ho comprato i biglietti becomes li ho comprati.
With l’, the ending is the only clue: l’ho visto is him or it (m.), l’ho vista is her or it (f.). With mi, ti, ci, vi the agreement is optional: Giulia, ti ho visto and ti ho vista are both correct.
| pronoun + avere | participle | |
|---|---|---|
| il film | l’ho | visto |
| la partita | l’ho | vista |
| i biglietti | li ho | comprati |
| le foto | le ho | fatte |
No pronoun, no agreement: ho visto Anna, ho comprato i biglietti.
ecco + pronoun: eccolo!
Ecco (here is, here are) joins the pronoun into one word: eccolo, eccola, eccoli, eccole, and for people eccomi and eccoci. It’s what you say when you spot what you were looking for.
The pronoun follows the usual choice: il treno → eccolo, le chiavi → eccole.
With an infinitive: lo voglio vedere, voglio vederlo
With a modal and an infinitive, the pronoun has two places, and both are correct. It can go before the modal (lo voglio vedere) or join the end of the infinitive, which drops its final -e (voglio vederlo).
It’s the same pattern you met with reflexive verbs (mi devo alzare, devo alzarmi). The one place it can’t go is between the two verbs: voglio lo vedere is wrong.
Common mistakes
- Compro lo.Lo compro.The pronoun goes before the conjugated verb.
- La pizza? Lo mangio.La pizza? La mangio.Pizza is feminine, so the pronoun is la.
- Lui conosco.Lo conosco.Lui is the subject (he). For him as the object, use lo.
- Lo ho visto.L’ho visto.Before ho, lo shortens to l’.
- Le foto? Le ho fatto.Le foto? Le ho fatte.With lo, la, li, le, the participle agrees: fatte.
- I biglietti? L’ho comprati.I biglietti? Li ho comprati.Li and le never shorten to l’.
- Signora, Lei chiamo domani.Signora, La chiamo domani.Formal you as the object is La.
- Voglio lo vedere.Lo voglio vedere. / Voglio vederlo.The pronoun goes before the modal or on the end of the infinitive, never in between.
The full set
Object pronouns go right before the conjugated verb.
| me | mi |
| you | ti · formal La |
| him, it (m.) | lo · l’ before a vowel |
| her, it (f.) | la · l’ before a vowel |
| us | ci |
| you all | vi |
| them (m. or mixed) | li |
| them (f.) | le |
Before the verb, after non: non lo compro.
In the passato prossimo, the participle agrees with lo, la, li, le: l’ho vista, li ho presi.
With an infinitive, both work: lo voglio vedere or voglio vederlo.
In short
- mi, ti, lo, la, ci, vi, li, le, and formal La: choose by person, gender and number.
- Before the conjugated verb, after non: non lo compro.
- Lo and la become l’ before a vowel, and always before ho: l’ho. Li and le never shorten.
- In the passato prossimo the participle agrees with lo, la, li, le: l’ho vista, li ho presi, le ho fatte.
- Eccolo! And with an infinitive: lo voglio vedere or voglio vederlo.