Sometimes you’ll need to use a direct pronoun and an indirect pronoun in the same sentence.
When this happens the order is: indirect pronoun + direct pronoun + verb.
We use the term ‘combined pronoun’ to describe this use of both an indirect and a direct pronoun together in a sentence. And sometimes the two pronouns really are combined!
Indirect Personal Pronoun:
mi = a me
ti = a te
gli/le/Le = a lui/lei/Lei
ci = a noi
vi = a voi
gli = a loro/Loro
+ Direct Pronoun:
lo, la, li, le, ne
= Combined Pronoun!
mi + lo = me lo
mi + la = me la
mi + li = me li
mi + le = me le
mi + ne = me ne
ti + lo = te lo
ti + la = te la
ti + li = te li
ti + le = te le
ti + ne = te ne
gli/le/Le + lo = glielo
gli/le/Le+ la = gliela
gli/le/Le + li =glieli
gli/le/Le + le = gliele
gli/le/Le + ne = gliene
ci +lo = ce lo
ci+ la = ce la
ci + li = ce li
ci + le = ce le
ci + ne = ce ne
vi + lo = ve lo
vi + la = ve la
vi + li = ve li
vi + le = ve le
vi + ne = ve ne
Remember, the indirect pronoun comes first and usually has an -e at its end, then the direct pronoun.
N.B. Only third person combined pronouns (the ones beginning with ‘gli/le/Le’ in the list above) form a single word. In all other cases, the two pronouns remain separated.
You shouldn’t write them together because in many cases the meaning changes (e.g. mela = apple, melo = apple tree, tela = canvas, cene = dinners, vene = veins.)
Here are some examples of the way combined pronouns are used:
Hai detto a Maria che sua madre la cercava con urgenza?
[Did you tell Maria that her mother was looking for her urgently?]
No, glielo dico subito!
[No, I’ll tell her right away!]
Qualcuno ha mandato un mazzo di fiori a Federica.
[Someone sent Federica a bunch of flowers.]
Glielo hanno portato stamattina?
[Did they bring (her) them/it this morning?]
Diego, mi puoi prestare la tua bicicletta per un paio d’ore?
[Diego, can you lend me your bike for a few hours?]
Sì, te la presto, ma fai attenzione a non rovinarla.
[Yes, I’ll lend it to you, but be careful not to ruin it.]
Marco non ci ha ancora dato gli inviti per la festa di venerdì.
[Marco still hasn’t given us the invitations for Friday’s party.]
Stasera ce li darà sicuramente.
[I’m sure he’ll give them to us this evening.]
To the list of direct pronouns, we could add ‘ne, which represents ‘di + the thing we are talking about’.
‘Ne’ is used:
– to talk about quantity
– to talk about a part of something mentioned before
– with verbs like ‘parlare di’
Here are some examples with ‘ne’:
Com’è andato il viaggio? [How was the trip?]
Te ne parlerò con calma appena ci incontriamo. (=Parlerò a te del viaggio appena ci incontriamo).
[I’ll tell you all about it when we see each other.]
Che buone queste caramelle!
[What nice sweets!]
Te ne do un’altra, se vuoi. (=Ti do un’altra di queste caramelle, se vuoi)
[I’ll give you another one, if you want.]
Questa pizza è solo con pomodoro e mozzarella.
[This pizza has just tomato and mozzarella.]
Me ne dai un’altra fetta, per favore? (=Dai a me un’altra fetta di quella pizza, per favore?)
[Will you give me another slice, please?]
Back to Italian lesson on: Combined Pronouns
