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Disjunctive personal pronouns

The disjunctive personal pronouns, so called because in many cases they are not used as the subject of a verb, are listed below:

Singular Plural
First Person me     me noi      us
Second Person te       you (familiar) voi      you (familiar)
Third Person  

 

lui       him

lei       her

esso    him, it

essa    her, it

Lei      you (polite)

        himself, herself,
itself (reflexive)

loro     them (m., f.)

essi     them (m.)

esse     them (f.)

Loro    you (polite)

sè        themselves (reflexive)

The principal use of the disjunctive pronouns is as objects of prepositions. They are also used in place of conjunctive pronouns (direct and indirect objects of verbs) when greater emphasis, clarity, or contrast is desired or when a verb has two or more direct or indirect objects.

 

Ho mandato la lettera a te. — I sent the letter to you.

Il cameriere porta il caffè a noi. — The waiter is bringing coffee to us. 

Cercavo voi. — I was looking for you all. 

Ascoltano me. — They are listening to me. 


VOCABULARY A

alba
dawn
concezione (f.)
conception
creato (noun)
creation
gioia
joy
gioiello
jewel
Medio Evo
Middle Ages
meraviglia
wonder
mondano
worldly
rimanga
remains, is left (3d. sing. pres. subj., rimanere)
spuntare
to appear
storico (noun)
historian
tredicesimo
thirteenth
tuttora
still, even now
Vangelo
Gospel

VOCABULARY B

avere bisogno di
to need
cercare
to look for, to search for
da
by; from
po’ = poco
vieni
come (2d. sing. pres., venire)

VOCABULARY C

atto
(adj.) apt, fit; able; (noun) act, action
avvenimento
event
avvocato
lawyer
badare
to pay attention to, to be careful of, to watch
disegno
drawing, sketch
far forca
to play hooky
imbrogliare
to mix up, to confuse
infatti
in fact, as a matter of fact, indeed
ordinatamente
tidily, in an orderly way
piacque
(it) pleased (3d. sing. past abs., piacere)
ritrasse
got, derived (3d. sing. past abs., ritrarre)
segno
sign
suono
sound
svogliatezza
indifference, laziness
toccare
to be someone’s job, to be up to someone
tracciare
to trace, to draw
trascuratezza
carelessness,
negligence
vantarsi
to boast, to brag, to be proud

 VOCABULARY D

affrettarsi
to hasten, to hurry
appena
as soon as
convinzione
conviction, persuasion
diciottesimo
eighteenth
esperienza
experience; experiment
incomposto
disorderly
lucidezza
lucidity
magno
great
negare
to deny, to refuse
potere (m. noun)
power
rana
frog
rivolgere
to turn
schietto
pure, genuine
sforzarsi
to strive
sia pur
even if, be it
talvolta
sometimes, at times
tradurre
to translate

 

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Italian for Reading & Translation Copyright © by Lauren Surovi and Carleton W. Carroll. All Rights Reserved.

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