Italian indirect object pronouns: mi, ti, gli, le

An indirect object is the person who receives something or benefits from an action: the person you give something to, write to, phone or answer. In Italian this person is introduced by the preposition «a»: «Scrivo a Sara», «Regalo un libro a Marco». An indirect object pronoun replaces «a» plus the person in one small word: «Le scrivo» “I write to her”, «Gli regalo un libro» “I give him a book”.

English often hides this structure. In “I gave her the keys” there is no “to”, but “her” is still the person who receives something. Italian always marks it: «Le ho dato le chiavi». Like direct object pronouns, indirect pronouns usually go before the verb.

Replacing a + person

The quickest test: if the full sentence has «a» before the person, use an indirect pronoun. «Telefono a Giulia» becomes «Le telefono». «Rispondo al professore» becomes «Gli rispondo».

Typical verbs are verbs of giving, communicating and helping: dare (to give), regalare (to give as a present), portare (to bring), mandare (to send), prestare (to lend), offrire (to offer), dire (to say), chiedere (to ask), spiegare (to explain), raccontare (to tell), rispondere (to answer), scrivere (to write) and telefonare (to phone). Many of them have a direct object (the thing) and an indirect object (the person) at the same time: «Mando una cartolina ai nonni» becomes «Gli mando una cartolina».

Watch telefonare: in English you phone someone, but in Italian you phone “to” someone, so it always takes an indirect pronoun: «Gli telefono», never «Lo telefono». Chiamare, which also means to phone, takes a direct object: «Lo chiamo».

• Ho visto Paolo e gli ho dato il tuo numero. · I saw Paolo and gave him your number.
• Mia madre mi ha regalato un orologio. · My mother gave me a watch.
• Domani ti spiego tutto. · I’ll explain everything to you tomorrow.

Gli, le, Le and loro

In the third person singular, gli means “to him” and le means “to her”. Be careful: le is also the direct object pronoun for feminine plural nouns, “them”. The verb and the context tell you which one it is: «Le scrivo» “I write to her”, but «Le compro» “I buy them”.

When you speak formally to someone as Lei, use Le, “to you”, for both men and women: «Le posso offrire un caffè?», «Signor Conti, Le mando la conferma per email». It is often written with a capital letter.

For “to them”, everyday Italian uses gli: «Ho visto i miei amici e gli ho raccontato tutto.» The traditional form loro is still correct, but it goes after the verb and sounds formal or bookish: «Ho raccontato loro tutto.» You will meet it in writing; in conversation, gli is the normal choice. In very casual speech some people also use gli for “to her”, but this is considered a mistake: for a woman, use le.

• È il compleanno di Anna: le compriamo un regalo? · It’s Anna’s birthday: shall we buy her a present?
• Signora, Le serve una busta? · Do you need a bag, madam?
• I clienti hanno chiamato e gli ho risposto subito. · The customers called and I answered them straight away.

Where the pronoun goes

Indirect pronouns follow the same word-order rules as direct ones. They go directly before a conjugated verb, with «non» before them: «Gli scrivo», «Non gli scrivo». With a modal verb and an infinitive, put the pronoun before the modal or attach it to the infinitive: «Le devo telefonare» or «Devo telefonarle». The only exception is loro, which always goes after the verb.

In the passato prossimo the pronoun goes before the auxiliary, but the participle never agrees with an indirect pronoun: «Le ho scritto», not «le ho scritta»; «Gli abbiamo telefonato». And le never shortens to l’: write «Le ho telefonato». «L’ho telefonato» would look like a direct object pronoun, which telefonare cannot take.

Piacere and verbs that work like it

With piacere, the person who likes something is an indirect object. «Mi piace il gelato» literally means “ice cream is pleasing to me”. So “he likes” is «gli piace» and “she likes” is «le piace». The verb agrees with the thing that is liked: «Mi piace la pizza», but «Mi piacciono i fumetti».

Several other common verbs work the same way: servire (to be needed), mancare (to be missing, to be missed), sembrare (to seem) and interessare (to interest). «Ti serve aiuto?» “Do you need help?”, «Mi manchi» “I miss you”, «Ci sembra una buona idea» “It seems a good idea to us”.

For emphasis or contrast, use the stressed forms «a me», «a te», «a lui», «a lei», «a noi», «a voi», «a loro» instead of the short pronoun: «A me piace il mare, a lui piace la montagna.» Use one or the other, not both. «A me mi piace» is very common in casual speech, but careful Italian avoids it.

• A Marco piacciono molto i film italiani: gli piace soprattutto Fellini. · Marco really likes Italian films: he especially likes Fellini.
• Le serve qualcos’altro? · Do you need anything else?