Hey, it’s Professor Dave; let’s talk about indirect object pronouns.
Once again, in order to understand Italian grammar, we have to know a little bit about
grammar in general.
We know what the subject of a sentence is, as well as a direct object.
If I say, “I bought a book”, I am the subject, because I’m the one performing
the action.
I bought something.
And what did I buy?
I bought a book, so the book is the direct object.
It is the object receiving the action, as it is being bought.
So what is an indirect object?
Well let’s take that book I just bought.
What if I say, “I gave the book to the student”.
I am still the subject, as I am the one giving something.
What did I give?
That would be the book, the direct object.
But who am I giving the book to?
To the student.
The student is the indirect object.
The student is affected by the act of giving, but not as a primary object.
The presence of the preposition “to”, or sometimes “for”, proves it, since direct
objects are not introduced by such prepositions.
So now that we are up to speed on how this works in English, let’s see how this works
in Italian.
This looks a lot like the sentence we went over in English, so let’s label all the parts.
What’s the subject?
That’s la mamma.
La mamma dà, so she is giving something.
Whatever she is giving must be the direct object, and that’s the gelato.
But who receives the ice cream?
That would be Luigi, the indirect object.
Now here’s the thing.
We know that a direct object can be replaced by a pronoun when we don’t want to repeat it.
Do you know Francesco?
Yes, I know him.
Him is a direct object pronoun.
Well the same thing can be done with indirect objects.
Did Maria speak to Francesco?
Yes, she spoke to him.
Now it’s very important to recognize the difference between direct and indirect objects,
because in Italian they will be expressed with different pronouns.
When in doubt, always try to identify the direct object first.
For example, when I say “Maria knows Francesco”, Francesco is clearly the direct object, as
he is the only one receiving the action of knowing.
Maria knows him.
But when I say “Maria buys Francesco shoes”, Maria is still the subject, as she does the buying.
But where is the direct object?
It’s certailny not Francesco, as she doesn’t buy Francesco.
She is buying shoes for him.
So while the shoes are the direct object, Francesco is merely the one indirectly enjoying
the purchase.
We can have an indirect object even without the presence of a direct one.
For example, I could say “Maria speaks to Francesco”.
The presence of the preposition “to” is what makes Francesco the indirect object.
Not all verbs can have an indirect object, only verbs that can specify for whom or to
whom something is done.
Here are the most important ones, with the indirect object clearly highlighted.
You have probably noticed that the preposition that corresponds with “to” or “for”
in Italian is “a”.
The simple preposition will be in front of proper nouns, and the preposition combined
with articles will be used in front of regular nouns.
Now we need to see how to substitute these indirect object phrases with indirect object pronouns.
As we said, even though in English the pronouns don’t change much, in Italian they do, so
let’s learn the variety of indirect object pronouns.
This pronoun used to be “loro”, postponed after the verb, but that variation became
a nuisance so nobody uses it anymore, and you will only find it in literary writing.
We must note that all of these pronouns usually precede the verb when the verb is conjugated.
But the rules of position after an infinitive or an imperative are still valid.
Let’s see how this works by making some phone calls.
In fact, with the modal verbs, potere, volere, and dovere, the pronouns can precede or follow,
just like when we use direct object pronouns.
With the imperative mood they always follow, but we will discuss that later.
Let’s put this in context.
It’s the holiday giving season, and you need to send gifts to your loved ones.
You think to yourself:
And now we know how to use indirect object pronouns in Italian.
Let’s check comprehension.