Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify direct objects in an Italian sentence and replace them with the correct pronoun in the correct position.

Lesson Explanation

Italian direct object pronouns:

mi — me         ci — us
ti — you (informal)   vi — you all
lo — him/it (masc.)   li — them (masc.)
la — her/it (fem.)    le — them (fem.)

Like Spanish, direct object pronouns are placed BEFORE a conjugated verb:

Leggo il libro. — I read the book.
Lo leggo. — I read it. (NOT "Leggo lo")

With an infinitive, the pronoun can attach to the end (dropping the infinitive’s final -e) or move before the conjugated verb, just as in Spanish:

Voglio leggere il libro. → Voglio leggerlo. OR Lo voglio leggere.

Lo and la elide to l’ before a vowel or “h”: L’ho visto. (I saw him/it.) — a genuinely important spelling habit tied to the article rules from Part 1, Lesson 4.

Lo and la must match the gender of the noun they replace, exactly like Spanish’s equivalent pattern — a habit with no equivalent in English “it.”

Practice Questions