1  What are object pronouns?

• Object pronouns are words such as me, him, us and them used instead of a noun
  to show who is affected by the action of the verb.

• In English we use object pronouns in two different ways:

• when the person or thing is directly affected by the action:

• In the above examples, them and him are called direct objects.

• when the person or thing is indirectly affected by the action. In English you often use to with the pronoun in such cases.

• In the above examples, them and him are called indirect objects.
• For both direct and indirect objects there is one form you use on most occasions. This is called the unstressed form.

2  Unstressed direct object pronouns

• Here are the Italian unstressed object pronouns:

• Unlike English, you usually put them before the verb.

• For more information on Where to place pronouns, see Object pronouns.

3  Lo, la, li and le

• You need to pay particular attention to how lo, la, li and le are used in Italian.
• To translate it you need to choose between lo or la. Use lo if the noun referred
  to is masculine, and la if it’s feminine.

• To translate them you choose between li or le. Use li if the noun referred to is masculine, and le if it’s feminine.

• When lo and la are followed by ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete and hanno, they drop the vowel and are spelled l’.

• For more information on the Perfect tense, see The perfect tense.

4  Unstressed indirect object pronouns

• In English some verbs have to be followed by an indirect object pronoun – explain
  to him, write to him – but other similar verbs do not: you say tell him, phone him.

• In Italian you have to use indirect object pronouns with verbs such as dire (meaning to tell) and telefonare (meaning to phone).

• As with direct object pronouns, there are unstressed and stressed indirect
  object pronouns.

• You will generally need to use unstressed pronouns rather than stressed ones.

• Here are the unstressed indirect pronouns.

• Unlike English, you usually put these pronouns before the verb.
• Just as in English, when you are telling somebody something, giving somebody something and so on, you use an indirect pronoun for the person concerned.

• Indirect pronouns are also generally used with verbs to do with communicating with people.

• You use indirect object pronouns when you are using verbs such as piacere, importare, and interessare to talk about what people like, care about or are interested in.

5  Stressed object pronouns

• You use stressed pronouns for special emphasis. They generally go after the verb.

• They are exactly the same as the subject pronouns, except that me is used instead of io and te is used instead of tu.
• You use the same words for stressed direct and indirect objects. When you use them as indirect objects you put the word a (meaning to) before them.

• You use stressed pronouns:

• when you want to emphasize that you mean a particular person and not somebody else, and for contrast:

• after a preposition

• For more information about Prepositions, see Prepositions.

• after di when you’re comparing one person with another

6  Before or after the verb?

• Unstressed pronouns generally come before the verb.

• In some cases, unstressed pronouns come after the verb:

• when you are using the imperative to tell someone to do something. The pronoun is joined onto the verb.

• Note that if the verb consists of just one syllable you double the consonant the pronoun starts with, except in the case of gli.

• when you are using a pronoun with the infinitive (the form of the verb ending in –re in Italian). The pronoun is joined onto the verb.

• Note that the final e of the infinitive is dropped: prendere + mi becomes prendermi, fare + ti becomes farti and so on.

• Stressed pronouns often come after the verb.

7  Using two pronouns together

• In English you sometimes use two pronouns together, one referring to the indirect object and the other to the direct object, for example, I gave him it.
• You often do the same kind of thing in Italian, and must always put the indirect object first.
• When you use two pronouns together like this, some of them change:

• When you want to use gli (meaning to him or to them) and le (meaning to her) with lo, la, li or le, you add an –e to gli and join it to lo, la, and so forth.

• When you use two pronouns together to give an order or when using the infinitive (–re form of the verb), they join together and are added on to the verb.

• Note that the final e of the infinitive is dropped: prendere + mi + li becomes prendermeli, mandare + ti + le becomes mandartele and so on.