Direct Object Pronouns

Pronomi Diretti

Introduction

Introduzione

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”.
Singular First-person
Play mi
me
Second-person
Play ti
you singular informal
Third-person
Play lo
him it masculine
Play si
himself herself itself themselves
Play La
you singular formal
Play la
her it feminine
Plural First-person
Play ci
us
Second-person
Play vi
you all plural informal
Play Vi
you all formal
Third-person
Play li
them masculine
Play le
them feminine
Play Li
you all masculine formal
Play Le
you all feminine formal

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