Basic Italian: A Grammar and Workbook

Subject pronouns

2 The Italian subject pronouns are:

For the third person, the following pronouns can still be found in some texts,
but are not normally used in contemporary Italian:

Lui (third person singular pronoun) replaces a masculine noun (like the Eng-
lish ‘he’); lei replaces a feminine noun (like the English ‘she’).
Lui, lei and loro are only used to refer to persons. In referring to objects,
Italian normally avoids using the obsolete forms esso, essa, essi, esse, and
omits the pronoun altogether:

Interrogative form

3 The interrogative is formed by adding a question mark at the end of the
sentence:

Person

1st

2nd

3rd

3rd

1st

2nd

3rd

Singular

io

tu

lui

lei

Plural

noi

voi

loro

I

you

he

she

we

you

they

egli [m], esso [m]

ella [f], essa [f]

essi [m], esse [f]

instead of the singular lui

instead of the singular lei

instead of the plural loro

Lui è Paolo, lei è Anna.

‘Cos’è?’ ‘È una chiave.’

È la chitarra di Anna.

Sono i libri di Paolo.

He is Paolo, she is Anna.

‘What is it?’ ‘It’s a key.’

It’s Anna’s guitar.

They are Paolo’s books.

Sei pronto?

Siete stranieri?

Hai il mio indirizzo?

Avete amici italiani?

Hanno un esame?

Are you ready?

Are you foreigners?

Have you got my address?

Have you any Italian friends?

Have they got an exam?