Personal Pronouns: Introduction to the Combined Forms

In Italian, when a verb has both a direct and an indirect object pronoun, it has a combined pronoun form (these are sometimes known as pronomi doppi). An example of a sentence which uses both a direct and an indirect object in English would be: She sells it to her. In this case it is the direct object pronoun, and to her is the indirect object.

In Italian, these double pronouns have specific rules for their use together. Indirect object pronouns always precede the direct object, and the forms of the indirect object pronouns change slightly. Following is a table which shows how direct and indirect object pronouns combine together.

Indirect Object Pronouns	Direct Object Pronouns
	+lo	+la	+li	+le	+ne
mi	me lo	me la	me li	me le	me ne
ti	te lo	te la	te li	te le	te ne
gli/le/Le	glielo	gliela	glieli	gliele	gliene
ci	ce lo	ce la	ce li	ce le	ce ne
vi	ve lo	ve la	ve li	ve le	ve ne
loro	lo ... loro (glielo)	la ... loro (gliela)	li ... loro (glieli)	le ... loro (gliele)	ne ... loro (gliene)

1. In the following examples, the first sentence will provide the words that will then be replaced by pronouns. Those words, as well as the pronouns in the subsequent examples, will be in bold.

   Ascoltate e il professore vi insegnerà la lezione subito. Listen and the professor will teach you the lesson right away. Ascoltate e il professore ve la insegnerà subito. Listen and the professor will teach it to you right away. Tania mi porta sempre dei dolci buonissimi. Tania always brings me wonderful sweets. Tania me li porta sempre. Tania always brings them to me.

   
   NB: Just as with singular direct object pronouns, when used before a conjugated form of avere, lo and la elide. There also must be agreement in the past participle. Observe the following examples.

   Hai prestato la camicia nera a Giuseppina? Did you lend the black shirt to Giuseppina? Gliel’hai prestata? Did you lend it to her? Silvio ha dato il pacco alla commessa. Silvio gave the package to the saleswoman. Silvio gliel’ha dato. Silvio gave it to her. Abbiamo restituito gli occhiali da sole alla signorina. We returned the sunglasses to the young lady. Glieli abbiamo restituiti. We returned them to her.

   
   
2. In contemporary Italian, combined object pronouns are rarely used with loro, and are instead replaced with the glie- forms, which you can find in parentheses in the table above. Both are grammatically acceptable.

   Porti la macchina ai nonni? Are you bringing the car to our grandparents? La porti loro? Gliela porti? Are you bringing it to them? Non potevamo spiegare i dettagli ai bambini. We couldn’t explain the details to the kids. Non li potevamo spiegare loro. Non glieli potevamo spiegare. We couldn’t explain them to them. Ho cercato di dare ai miei genitori le chiavi. I tried to give my parents the keys. Ho cercato di darle loro. Ho cercato di dargliele. I tried to give them to them.

   
   
3. Combined object pronouns precede most conjugated verbs. They are, however, attached to infinitives when the infinitive is the governing verb in the sentence. They are also attached to the word ecco, and to all but the Lei imperative form.

   Ti voglio mandare un pacco; te lo manderò domani. I want to send you a package; I’ll send it to you tomorrow. Il ragazzo cerca di darci la lettera; cerca di darcela. The boy is trying to give us the letter; he is trying to give it to us. Eccoti i documenti! Here are the documents [for you]! Eccoteli! Here they are [for you]! Dammi lo zucchero, per favore. Give me the sugar, please. Dammelo! Give it to me!