7. Personal pronouns in Italian
Before starting to speak any phrase in Italian, it is important to know “who’s performing the action (the subject)” and the two most important verbs in Italian language: essere (to be) and avere (to have). These are (irregular verbs)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_and_irregular_verbs], which means their conjugation do not follow a pattern and must be memorized.
The personal pronouns in Italian (or any language for that matter) tells who are performing the action. Mose of the cases these pronouns are omitted from the phrases since the conjugation of these verbs tells who is performing the action.
| Italian | English |
|---|---|
| io | I |
| tu | You |
| lui | He |
| lei | She |
| noi | We |
| voi | you (plural), you (formal) |
| loro | they |
There are a few important points to take from this:
- “Lei” capitalized is used for a formal way of refering to a person (you), both in male and female versions.
- “Voi” is the equivalent of “you” (plural) and is highly used in Italy
- “Loro” is used for “they”, no matter the gender