Understanding Italian direct and indirect object pronouns will make your conversations sound much more natural.

These small but important words let you avoid repeating the same nouns over and over again.

Instead of saying “I see the car,” you can simply say “I see it.”

In Italian, choosing the right pronoun depends on whether the verb takes a direct or an indirect object.

I’ll explain exactly how to tell them apart and where to put them in a sentence.

What are direct object pronouns?

A direct object is the person or thing that directly receives the action of the verb.

You can find the direct object by asking “who?” or “what?” immediately after the verb.

For example, if you eat an apple, “the apple” is the direct object.

A direct object pronoun is simply a short word that replaces that noun.

Italian direct object pronouns list

Here’s the complete list of direct object pronouns in Italian.

Where to place direct object pronouns

In Italian, direct object pronouns almost always go right before the conjugated verb.

This is very different from English, where we put the pronoun after the verb.

Notice how la (it) goes before mangio (I eat).

If your sentence includes an infinitive verb (a verb ending in -are, -ere, or -ire), the pronoun attaches directly to the end of it.

You just drop the final “e” of the infinitive and attach the pronoun.

What are indirect object pronouns?

An indirect object is the person or thing that receives the result of the action.

You can find it by asking “to whom?” or “for whom?” after the verb.

In Italian, indirect objects are almost always introduced by the preposition a (to/at).

An indirect object pronoun replaces that preposition and the noun together.

Italian indirect object pronouns list

You’ll notice that many of these look exactly like the direct object pronouns.

The only differences are found in the third-person forms (him, her, them, formal you).

Note that loro is sometimes used for “to them”, but it always goes after the verb.

In modern spoken Italian, gli is overwhelmingly preferred for “to them” and follows the normal placement rules.

Where to place indirect object pronouns

Just like direct object pronouns, indirect object pronouns usually go immediately before the conjugated verb.

They also attach to the end of an infinitive verb in the exact same way.

The difference between direct and indirect pronouns

The easiest way to know which pronoun to use is to look at the verb.

If the verb is followed by the preposition a, you must use an indirect object pronoun.

Verbs like rispondere (to answer), telefonare (to call), and piacere (to please/like) take indirect objects.

If the verb connects to the noun without any preposition, you use a direct object pronoun.

Verbs like vedere (to see), mangiare (to eat), and conoscere (to know) take direct objects.

Learning which common verbs require the preposition a helps you choose the correct pronouns.