Italian subject pronouns: io, tu, lui, lei, noi, voi, loro

Subject pronouns are the words for “I”, “you”, “he”, “she”, “we” and “they”: the person who does the action or who is being described. Italian has eight of them in everyday use: «io», «tu», «lui», «lei», «Lei», «noi», «voi» and «loro». Three of them mean “you”: Italian separates one person from several, and informal from formal.

The surprise for English speakers is that Italians usually leave these words out. The verb ending already shows who you mean: «parli» can only be “you speak”, «siamo» can only be “we are”. A sentence such as «Lavoro a Milano» “I work in Milan” is complete and perfectly natural without «io».

So you need to learn two things: the forms, and when to use them. Most of the time you drop them. You keep them to contrast two people, to stress who does something, to avoid confusion, and in short replies with no verb.

Leaving the pronoun out

In a neutral statement or question, Italian does not need a subject pronoun. The verb ending does the job of “I”, “you” or “we”: «Siamo di Firenze» “We’re from Florence”, «Parlate italiano?» “Do you speak Italian?”. This is the normal way to speak, with every verb and every tense.

Adding the pronoun to every sentence is not wrong, but it sounds heavy and insistent, as if you were stressing “I” each time. Compare the natural «Mi chiamo Sara, sono di Trieste e studio medicina» with a learner’s «Io mi chiamo Sara, io sono di Trieste, io studio medicina». Name the person once, if at all, and let the verb endings do the rest.

Everyday Italian also has no word for “it” as a subject. Where English needs “it”, Italian starts with the verb: «È tardi» “It’s late”, «È vero» “It’s true”, «Piove» “It’s raining”. The same goes for a thing you have just mentioned: «Il mercato? È in piazza.» Dictionaries list «esso» and «essa» for “it”, and older books use «egli» for “he”, but these belong to formal or literary writing. In everyday Italian, use lui and lei for people, and no pronoun at all for things.

• Abito a Bologna, ma sono di Bari. · I live in Bologna, but I’m from Bari.
• Domani lavori? No, sono in ferie. · Are you working tomorrow? No, I’m on holiday.
• È difficile, ma è molto interessante. · It’s difficult, but it’s very interesting.

Keeping the pronoun: contrast, emphasis and clarity

Use the pronoun when two people are set against each other. Without it, the contrast disappears: «Io bevo il tè, lui beve il caffè» “I drink tea, he drinks coffee”. This is also why the pronoun appears when you turn a question back to someone: «Sono di Torino. E tu?»

Use it to stress who does something. The pronoun then often moves after the verb, to the end of the sentence, where Italian puts new or important information: «Stasera cucino io» “Tonight I’m cooking” (not you), «Decidi tu» “You decide”, «Paga lui» “He’s paying”. The same order gives the Italian for “it’s me”, “it’s him” and so on. The verb agrees with the pronoun, so “it’s me” is «sono io», literally “I am I”.

Use it, finally, when the verb alone is ambiguous. «È» can mean “he is”, “she is”, “it is” or formal “you are”, and «sono» can mean “I am” or “they are”. When you talk about two people, the pronoun tells the listener who is who: «Lui è di Napoli, lei è di Palermo.»

• Lui lavora in banca, lei insegna inglese. · He works in a bank, she teaches English.
• Suonano alla porta. Apro io! · Someone’s at the door. I’ll get it!
• Noi prendiamo un caffè, e voi? · We’re having a coffee. What about you?

Pronouns without a verb: e tu?, anch’io, io no

In short replies Italian often uses the pronoun on its own, with no verb at all. «E tu?» and the formal «E Lei?» turn a question back to the other person. «Anch’io» means “me too” and «neanch’io» means “me neither”; they are short for «anche io» and «neanche io», and both spellings are correct. «Io sì» and «io no» answer for yourself when other people answer differently: «Siete stanchi? Io no.»

Notice that Italian keeps the subject form here. English says “me too”, but in Italian the person is still the subject of the verb you leave out, so it stays io: «Ho sete. Anch’io.» (With «mi piace», which you will meet later, the reply is «anche a me».)

After a preposition, such as «per», «con», «di» or «a», the picture changes: io and tu become «me» and «te». «Questo libro è per te», «Vieni con me?». The other pronouns stay the same: «con lui», «per lei», «da noi», «con voi», «per loro».

• Parli tedesco? Io no, ma mia sorella sì. · Do you speak German? I don’t, but my sister does.
• Non capisco questa parola. Neanch’io. · I don’t understand this word. Me neither.
• Vieni con me o resti con loro? · Are you coming with me or staying with them?

Tu, Lei and voi: three ways to say “you”

The right “you” depends on how many people you address and how formal the situation is. «Tu» is for one person you know well: friends, family, children, and people your own age in relaxed settings. «Lei» is for one adult you do not know, or know only professionally: a shop assistant, a receptionist, a doctor, an older neighbour. «Voi» is for two or more people, in formal and informal situations alike. Italians call this choice «dare del tu» and «dare del Lei», literally “to give the tu” and “to give the Lei”.

Formal Lei is the same word as lei, “she”, and it takes the same verb form: «Lei è di qui?» can mean “Is she from here?” or “Are you from here?”, and the situation makes it clear. Lei is used for men and women alike, but adjectives agree with the real person: to a man, «Lei è italiano?»; to a woman, «Lei è italiana?». In writing, Lei often has a capital L to keep it apart from lei; this is a common convention rather than a strict rule.

If you are not sure, start with Lei. An Italian who prefers tu will tell you, often with «Ci diamo del tu?» “Shall we use tu?”. In parts of southern Italy you may still hear voi used to one person as a sign of respect, especially by older speakers; in standard Italian, the formal singular is Lei.

• Scusi, Lei abita qui vicino? · Excuse me, do you live near here?
• Ragazzi, voi cosa prendete? · Guys, what are you having?