Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence. There are different kinds of pronouns.

Subject pronouns

Subject pronouns in Italian can be used as the subject. The subject pronouns most often used in modern Italian are:

Singular	Singular
Io - I	Noi - We
Tu* - You	Voi - You
Lui, lei, Lei* - He, she, you	Loro - They

*Tu is an informal version of “you” in singular. To refer to someone in a formal context we use Lei. It conjugates exactly like the third person singular.

! Important note !

As the form of the verb in Italian indicates who the speaker is, personal pronouns are mostly dropped in the language. Consequently, people say “Cantiamo una canzone.” rather than “Noi cantiamo una canzone.”. The pronouns are sometimes kept for emphasis:

• - Vai alla festa stasera? (Are you going to the party tonight?)
• - Io non ci vado. (I’m not going there.)

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns in Italian are a way of saying that something is yours, his, her etc. A slight difficulty for English speakers is that the possessive pronoun always is in agreement with the object/person that’s “possessed” and not with the “possessor”, like in the example:

La sua macchina era cara. -> His/her car was expensive.

Here is the list of possessive pronouns:

	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Mine	Il mio libro - My book	La mia borsa - My bag	I miei amici - My friends	Le mie studentesse - My (female) students
Your	Il tuo libro - Your book	La tua borsa - Your bag	I tuoi amici - Your friends	Le tue studentesse - Your (female) students
Her/His	Il suo libro - Her/His book	La sua borsa - Her/his bag	I suoi amici - Her/His friends	Le sue studentesse - Her/his (female) students
Our	Il nostro libro - Our book	La nostra borsa - Our bag	I nostri amici - Our friends	Le nostre studentesse - Our (female) students
Your	Il vostro libro - Your book	La vostra borsa - Your bag	I vostri amici - Your friends	Le vostre studentesse - Your (female) students
Their	Il loro libro - Their book	La loro borsa - Their bag	I loro amici - Their friends	Le loro studentesse - Their (female) students

There’s a special exception with the use of personal pronouns for family members:

• - They behave in the same way as other words when the noun related to family is used in plural e.g. Le mie zie sono felici. (My aunts are happy.)
• - They also remain normal when a diminutive form of the word is used e.g. La mia sorellina non si sente bene. (My sister isn’t feeling well.)
• - They drop the pronoun in singular e.g. Mio padre cucina bene. (My father cooks well.)

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns (i pronomi dimostrativi) are used for indicating. “This” and “these” in Italian can be different words, depending on number and gender as shown in the below table:

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Questo - This	Questi - These
Feminine	Questa - This	Queste - These

This is an example of the use of these expressions in practice:

Questo è il mio cucciolo. - This is my puppy.
Questa è Maria. - This is Maria.
Queste sono mie sorelle. - These are my sisters.
Questi sono gli ultimi panini. - These are the last sandwiches.

The form of “that” and “those” also can be different:

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Quello - That	Quelli - Those
Feminine	Quella - That	Quelle - Those

Here are some examples showing how to use them in sentences:

Preferisco quello. - I prefer that (one).
Vuol dire quella? - You mean that (one)?
Non ho abbastanza soldi per comprare quelli. - I don’t have enough money to buy those.
Le scarpe? Quelle? - Shoes? Those?