Comparison of Italian and Spanish

Personal Pronouns

	Subject	Direct Object	Indirect Object	Stressed	Reflexive
1st pn sg.	io	mi	mi	me	mi
2nd pn sg.	tu	ti	ti	te	ti
3rd pn sg.	lui/lei	lo/la	gli/le	lui/lei	si
1st pn pl.	noi	ci	ci	noi	ci
2nd pn pl.	voi	vi	vi	voi	vi
3rd pn pl.	loro	li/le	gli	loro	si

Here, stressed means following a preposition. Sometimes, stressed pronouns are called disjunctive. Now compare this with the corresponding table for Spanish:

	Subject	Direct Object	Indirect Object	Stressed	Reflexive
1st pn sg.	yo	me	me	mí	me
2nd pn sg.	tú	te	te	ti	te
3rd pn sg.	él/ella	lo/la	le	él/ella	se
1st pn pl.	nosotros	nos	nos	nosotros	nos
2nd pn pl.	vosotros	os	os	vosotros	os
3rd pn pl.	ellos/ellas	los/las	les	ellos/ellas	se

Note the switch of 'i' and 'e' in the first and second person singular forms, and also in the third person reflexive forms. This can lead to confusion and needs to be memorized. (Compare mi piace, ti dico and si lavano with me gusta, te digo and se lavan, respectively.)

Here are some remarks about usage:

• In Italian, one uses 'Lei' followed by the third person singular form to address somebody in formal speech, as in Di dov'è Lei?. One can also use 'Loro' to address more than one person, as in Di dove sono Loro?, but this is now regarded as very formal and old-fashioned. In Spanish formal speech, one uses 'usted' followed by the third person singular form when addressing one person, as in ¿De donde es usted?, and 'ustedes' followed by the third person plural form when addressing more than one person, as in ¿De donde son ustedes?.
• In both languages, subject pronouns are optional. That is, in Italian one can say either Hai mangiato tutto or Tu hai mangiato tutto, and in Spanish one can say Has comido todo or Tú has comido todo. The pronoun is only included when necessary to avoid confusion, for emphasis, or to make it obvious that formal speech is being used.
• In Spanish it is common to add redundant indirect object pronouns to sentences, as in Le hablo a él and A mí me gusta. This is regarded as substandard in Italian and is best avoided. One would simply say Parlo a lui and A me piace, respectively.
• On the other hand, there is one situation where Italian uses a redundant direct object pronoun. This is when a direct object is moved to the beginning of a sentence for emphasis. Compare La carne non la mangio with Carne no como. (This example also illustrates the fact mentioned above, that Italian uses articles more frequently than Spanish.)
• The 'personal a', mentioned in the section on prepositions, causes problems in Spanish. It makes it hard sometimes to tell whether a person is a direct or indirect object. A sentence like 'I saw him' can be translated as either Lo vi or Le vi. It varies from one region to another. For an Italian speaker, it is easier to use lo/la/los/las here.
• Complications arise when an indirect object pronoun is immediately followed by a direct object pronoun. In Italian, 'gli lo' and 'le lo' are contracted to 'glielo'. In Spanish, 'le lo' becomes 'se lo'. So, for example, 'I have given it to him' becomes Gliel'ho dato in Italian and Se lo he dado in Spanish.
• Finally, I should mention the stressed version of the reflexive third person pronouns, which are 'sé' or 'se stesso' in Italian and 'sí' or 'sí mismo' in Spanish. So, for example, 'He is talking to himself' becomes Parla con se stesso in Italian and Habla con sí mismo in Spanish. Note yet again the irritating switch of 'i' and 'e'.

Last updated December 2016.

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