Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns: choose the right “person”

Italian personal subject pronouns tell you who is doing the action.

• Tu is for one person you know well.
• Voi is always plural (“you all”).
• Loro is plural (“they”), for people.

Gender & groups: how “lui/lei” and “loro” work

• lui = a male person: Marco è in riunione. Lui è in riunione.
• lei = a female person: Maria lavora in banca. Lei lavora in banca.

For a group (plural), Italian often uses the masculine as the default when the group is mixed.

• All men: loro (masc. group)
• Mixed men + women: loro (still treated as masculine in agreement)

Key point: the pronoun itself is loro either way, but other words may show agreement (later in the course).

The big trap: “Lei” (formal you) vs “lei” (she)

Lei (capital L) is the polite way to say you to one person (client, manager, stranger).

• Informal: Tu sei pronta? = Are you ready? (to a colleague you’re on first-name terms with)
• Formal: Lei è pronta? = Are you ready? (to a client / professor)

Important: even though it means “you”, Lei uses 3rd person singular verb forms.

• Lei è la professoressa? (not Lei sei)
• Lei ha tempo oggi? (not Lei hai)

Pronoun drop: when Italian omits “io/tu/noi…”

Italian often doesn’t say the subject pronoun, because the verb ending already tells you who it is.

Use the pronoun when you need clarity or emphasis:

• Contrast: Io lavoro da casa, lui lavora in ufficio.
• Clarify who: Loro parlano italiano, noi no.

Quick self-check: pick the pronoun in 3 steps

1. How many people? one → io/tu/lui/lei/Lei | more than one → noi/voi/loro
2. What relationship? informal “you” → tu | formal “you” → Lei
3. If 3rd person singular: male → lui | female → lei

Mini test: “Signor Rossi, come sta?” → subject is formal “you” (one person) → Lei.