Unit 4 - Lesson 07 More on Combined Pronouns As we are nearing the end of Unit 4, I want to make sure the information you learned about Combined Pronouns really makes sense to you and is beginning to stick! Consider this another review, but with more examples that train you to think in Italian as opposed to translating things directly from English. So far you ve learned to combine 2 different sets of pronouns : - Indirect Object Pronouns + Direct Object Pronouns - Reflexive Pronouns + Direct Object Pronouns It s really useful to know how to use Combined Pronouns in Italian because it will make your speech more natural and effortless once this information makes sense. Examples Me la porti? Ve la compro io! Non gliela danno subito. Me lo metto domani. Se lo compra il mese prossimo. Te li pettini spesso? Will you bring it to me? I will buy it for you guys! They will not give it to him/her/them quickly. I will put it on tomorrow. He/She will buy it for herself/himself next month. Do you brush/comb them often? It is very common for students to have doubts about Reflexive Pronouns How do you know if we are talking about something reflexively? The subject of the verb and the object are the same. They re from the same line, so to speak (first line = IO, second line = TU etc). For example, both the subject, the verb AND the object would be first person, singular, or third person, plural. 1
In the sentence, Me lo metto domani. I will put it on tomorrow. METTO is first-person and matches ME, first-person. It shows that I do something to myself. In the sentence, Te li pettini spesso? Do you brush/comb them often? PETTINI is in the second-person, and so is TE. This sentence shows that you do something to yourself. If you change this sentence to, Me li pettini spesso? Will you comb them for me often? Changing the TE to ME in this sentence changes the first pronoun from a Reflexive Pronoun that tells us that someone is doing something to themselves, to an Indirect Object Pronoun that tells us that someone is doing something to someone else. Combined Pronouns we know so far Have a look at this chart that shows all of the pronoun combinations we ve learned so far. There really aren t that many options, they re quite repetitive if you really look at it! IO TU LUI LEI NOI VOI LORO ME LO, ME LA, ME LI, ME LE TE LO, TE LA, TE LI, TE LE CE LO, CE LA, CE LI, CE LE VE LO, VE LA, VE LI, VE LE 2
The combinations for IO, ME LO, ME LA, ME LI, ME LE mean that a verb is being performed onto me. We can use these combinations as Indirect Object Pronouns which mean to me, or Reflexive Pronouns, which mean onto myself. Me lo metto Me lo metti I put it on myself You put it on me This rule is standard for all of the combinations for IO, TU, NOI and VOI. The combinations for TU, TE LO, TE LA, TE LI, TE LE mean that a verb is being performed onto you, or onto yourself. Te lo metti You put it on yourself Te lo mettiamo We put it on you The combinations for NOI, CE LO, CE LA, CE LI, CE LE mean that a verb is being performed onto us, or onto ourselves. Ce lo mettiamo We put it onto ourselves Ce lo metti You put it on us The combinations for VOI, VE LO, VE LA, VE LI, VE LE mean that a verb is being performed onto you guys, or onto yourselves. Ve lo mettete You guys put it onto yourselves Ve lo metto I put it on you guys The third-person is where it can get a little tricky because we really have to be clear with who the recipient is. GLIELO can mean, TO HIM, TO HER, TO IT, TO THEM. And SE LO can mean, TO HIMSELF, TO HERSELF, TO ITSELF TO THEMSELVES. The good news is that the combinations for the Indirect Object Pronouns for the third-person (singular and plural), LUI, LEI and LORO are the same: GLIELO, GLIELA, GLIELI, GLIELE. The Reflexive Pronouns for the third-person (singular and plural) LUI, LEI and LORO are also the same: SE LO, SE LA, SE LI, SE LE. Once you know these combinations, all you have to do is distinguish whether or not the third-person is the recipient o f an action performed by another subject, or whether they are doing something onto themselves. 3
Practice In this practice we are going to be choosing the correct Combined Pronouns for different objects. Remember, if the recipient is the same as the subject, then the sentence is reflexive and you use a combination of Reflexive Pronouns. If the recipient is someone else, then the sentence is indirect and you use a combination of Indirect Object Pronouns. IO TU LUI/LEI NOI VOI LORO ME LO, ME LA, ME LI, ME LE TE LO, TE LA, TE LI, TE LE CE LO, CE LA, CE LI, CE LE VE LO, VE LA, VE LI, VE LE We are going to use the following verbs : COMPRARE - TO BUY REGALARE - TO GIFT SCRIVERE - TO WRITE RICORDARSI - TO REMEMBER How do you say that you are buying something for yourself? Me lo compro I buy it for myself if the object is masculine, singular Me la compro I buy it for myself if the object is feminine, singular Me li compro I buy them for myself if the object is masculine, plural Me la compro I buy them for myself if the object is feminine, plural Depending on the gender and number the object, the thing you are buying, you can use any of the combinations listed under IO to say that you are buying something for yourself. In this example, we are using the pronoun combinations for IO, reflexively, because we buy something for ourselves, not someone else. If you change the verb from COMPRO which means I BUY, to COMPRI, which means YOU BUY and want to say YOU BUY IT FOR ME, I am still the recipient of the object that is being bought. This means that so long as I am the recipient of the object, you still use a combined pronoun from the IO column. Me lo compri You buy it for me if the object is masculine, singular Me la compri You buy it for me if the object is feminine, singular Me li compri You buy them for me if the object is masculine, plural Me la compri You buy them for me if the object is feminine, plural 4
The only difference (that cannot be seen in the pronouns used) is that in the last four examples, the ME was an Indirect Object Pronoun, while in the first four examples, the same ME was a Reflexive Pronoun. Same word, right? How do you say that YOU GUYS are buying something for ME? It s similar to what we did above! We will still engage with the IO column of the Combined Pronouns chart because we are still the recipient of the object that is being bought. However, because it is more than one person that's doing the buying, we use the verb COMPRARE in its VOI form, COMPRATE. Me lo comprate You guys buy it for me if the object is masculine, singular Me la comprate You guys buy it for me if the object is feminine, singular Me li comprate You guys buy them for me if the object is masculine, plural Me la comprate You guys buy them for me if the object is feminine, plural Now, if you want to gift someone a present, let s say you are gifting something to me, Manu, you use the pronoun combinations for TU. Since you are the person that's doing the gifting, your verb presents itself in the first-person form. Te lo regalo I gift it to you, Manu if the object is masculine, singular Te la regalo I gift it to you, Manu if the object is feminine, singular Te li regalo I gift them to you, Manu if the object is masculine, plural Te le regalo I gift them to you, Manu if the object is feminine, plural If you are gifting or buying something for yourself, you go back to using combinations from the IO line in the chart, like we did in the example above with COMPRARE. Me lo regalo I gift it to myself if the object is masculine, singular Me la regalo I gift it for myself if the object is feminine, singular Me li regalo I gift them for myself if the object is masculine, plural Me la regalo I gift them for myself if the object is feminine, plural If you want to say that you are gifting a vacation, LE VACANZE, to YOU GUYS, you would say, Ve le regalo I ll gift them to you guys Le vacanze is feminine, plural If YOU want to say that that ME and MY SISTER are gifting a VACATION to YOU and YOUR SISTER, you say, Ve le regaliamo We gift them to you guys If I want to say that YOU and YOUR SISTER and gifting ME and MY SISTER a vacation, I would say, Ce le regalate You guys gift it to us 5
RICORDARSI is a reflexive verb. If you want to say that HE remembers IT, in other words, HE is doing the remembering to HIMSELF, You say, Se lo ricorda He remembers it Now, this entire list of examples was meant to show you that using Combined Pronouns is a lot easier than we think. But I am sure that right now your head is spinning and there is a chance you might feel even more confused! Rest assured that this WILL sink in! Drill Now that we ve seen multiple examples of how to combine pronouns using different recipients, create sentences of your own using various recipients and objects. Use the following verbs : COMPRARE - TO BUY REGALARE - TO GIFT SCRIVERE - TO WRITE RICORDARSI - TO REMEMBER Create at least 5 different sentences per verb Use different object and recipients in each sentence Join us in the forums if you have any questions! Spend some time on this! Put thought into the sentences you create and get a handle on why you are choosing the pronouns that you do. The next drill is a Speed Drill. Similar to this one, but focuses on how quickly you can choose the correct pronouns for different objects and recipients. Our goal with this lesson, is to eventually use Combined Pronouns without having to think about them. Learning Combined Pronouns will make your Italian speech more efficient and natural sounding. Buon Lavoro! 6
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