We round out the lesson with some more cultural notes on Italian markets, both in Italy and in the United States.

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1 3.10 Direct & Indirect Pronouns Language & Culture Lessons In this lesson, you'll learn all the basics of using different types of pronouns in Italian. We round out the lesson with some more cultural notes on Italian markets, both in Italy and in the United States. Language Lesson Direct and Indirect Pronouns In English, pronouns replace nouns to avoid unnecessarily repeating them. For example, in the sentence, "John is not at work today, because he is sick," the pronoun "he" is used to replace the noun "John." Pronouns can be used in the same way in Italian. For example, the above sentence in Italian would be: Giovanni non è al lavoro oggi perché lui è malato. The pronoun lui replaces the proper noun Giovanni. There are several types of pronouns and understanding how they work as a group will help you to use them individually. The use of pronouns varies from language to language. An Overview of Pronoun Use You are now familiar with the pronouns used with action words: "I," "you," "he," "she," "we," "you" (plural) and "they." They are called: Subject pronouns. While adjectives precede or follow the noun, the pronoun is used in place of a noun to avoid unnecessarily repeating a thing or things being referred to in a sentence. As mentioned above, we have come across: Mi piace. Mi is a pronoun that stands for: to me, a me. There are many types of pronouns, but in this lesson we will look at two very important and commonly used ones: the Direct object and Indirect object pronouns. Let's consider first the Direct one. Direct Object Pronouns The Direct object pronoun replaces direct objects; they receive, directly, the action of the verb. They answer the question Chi? (Who?) or Cosa? (What?). Per Esempio: What does Giovanni do? Giovanni legge un libro. John reads a book. (direct object noun) Giovanni lo legge. John reads it. (direct object pronoun) Note also the position of the pronoun: it goes before the verb in Italian!!

2 Singular Plural mi me ci ti you vi lo him, it li la her, it le us you all them (masc. and fem.) them (polite) In a negative phrase NON is placed before the pronoun. Per esempio: Maria non mangia la mela. Maria does not eat the apple. Maria non la mangia. Maria does not eat it. The following Italian verbs take a Direct Object, in contrast to their English counterparts. In other words, in English we need the preposition in order for the sentence to make sense. For example to look at the flowers, we never say as you would in Italian "to look the flowers". guardare cercare aspettare ascoltare pagare to look at to look for to wait for to listen to to pay for Paga il negoziante. Indirect Object Pronouns Indirect object pronouns replace indirect object nouns. They answer the question: A chi? (to whom?), or Per chi? (for whom?). Per esempio: Who does Mark ask a favor of?

3 Marco chiede un favore a Maria. Mark asks a favor of Maria. Marco le chiede un favore. Mark asks her a favor. Note also the position of the pronoun: it goes before the verb in Italian!! Singular Plural mi to / for me ci ti to / for you vi le to / for you (m.f., polite) loro gli / le to / for him / her gli to / for us to / for you to / for them (plural, polite) to / for them (masc. and fem.) Let's look at the following Italian verbs that take an Indirect object, in contrast with their English counterparts: credere a chiedere a telefonare a rispondere a consigliare a to believe to ask to phone to answer to advise Chiede a Lei. Note that some of the Direct and Indirect pronouns, such as... mi ti ci vi...are exactly the same! Which is Which? We have come across interrogative words that ask questions when used at the beginning of a sentence.

4 In this section, we will look at some common Interrogative Pronouns: Chi? Di chi? Che cosa? Quale / quali? Quanto / quanti? Who? (refers to people only) Whose? (refers to people only) What? (generally used for things) Which (used for people and things) How much? (used for people and things) Per Esempio Who are you? Chi sei? Whose shoes are these? Di chi sono queste scarpe? What shall we do tomorrow? Che cosa facciamo domani? Which wine do you want? Quale vino vuoi? How much does it cost? Quanto costa? The Impersonal Pronoun One last little grammatical note In our conversation we have a phrase that does not have a subject: Si va al mercato- which we translate as: "We go to the market." We could also have used these words in our translation: people, you, I, or they [go to the market]. In Italian Si is closer to the English expression: "one goes." That word "One" - Si, is a pronoun that you can easily differentiate from the word yes, Sì, which has an accent mark! Culture II. Cultura "Market day" in Italy is an institution. It's not only the most economical place to shop, it's also the wildest. Lots of colors, lots of people, and lots of stuff. Many of the markets are several blocks long. One of the most formidable markets in Italy is the Mercato Orientale in Genoa. In addition to what you'd expect - fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, and fish - there are great stalls that display flowers, second-hand books, and works by local artists.

5 Market day in Palermo, Sicily The Italian market tradition has been mirrored in many cities across the United States. One of the best known belongs to Philadelphia, where it is simply called The Italian Market, or just "9th Street." It had its origins in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when an influx of Italian immigrants began to take residence there. The market is still very much a part of the city's cultural profile... it even features in the popular film Rocky, when the star gets tossed an orange from one of the fruit vendors as he's on a training run! *** In the next Language lesson we will talk about forming possessives in Italian grammar, and we'll also have lots of fun looking at Italian words that we use in English - whether we realize it or not! Alla prossima volta... Until next time! Maria DiLorenzi Rocket Italian Libros Media Ltd. - Copyright USA: Page Avenue, PO Box 1261, Fairfax, VA 22038, USA Phone: Asia/Pacific: Ferry Road, Woolston, Christchurch 8023, New Zealand Phone: