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THE
PERSONAL Pronoun - Indirect Object Form |
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Homepage |
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As Indirect Object |
French |
Italian |
Portuguese |
Romanian |
Spanish |
Translation |
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Singular |
1st Person |
Me |
Mi |
Me |
Îmi |
Me |
Me |
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2nd Person |
Te |
Ti |
Te |
Îţi |
Te |
You |
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Masculine |
3rd Person |
Lui |
Gli |
Lhe |
Îi |
Le |
Him |
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Feminine |
3rd Person |
Lui |
Le |
Lhe |
Îi |
Le |
Her |
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Objects |
Impersonal |
Y/En |
Ne/Ci/Vi |
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It/There |
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Plural |
1st Person |
Nous |
Ci |
Nós |
Ne |
Nos |
Us |
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2nd Person |
Vous |
Vi |
Vocês |
Vă |
Os |
You |
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Masculine |
3rd Person |
Leur |
Loro |
Lhes |
Le |
Les |
Them |
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Feminine |
3rd Person |
Leur |
Loro |
Lhes |
Le |
Les |
Them |
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Impersonal |
Y/En |
Ne/Ci/Vi |
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Them/There |
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How to Avoid Confusions? |
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To determine whether
you should use the direct object or the indirect object, you may remember
this simple rule: the direct object answers to the questions what, whom, which? The indirect
object answers to questions like to whom, about
whom, about what, etc (the questions have a
preposition). |
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Example: I give you
flowers. I is the subject, you is indirect object (to whom I give flowers?), and flowers is a direct object (what do I give?). Similarly, Yo le envio
flores (Spanish: I give him/her flowers.) In other
words, the direct object receives the action of the verb directly. |
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Except for Romanian, in
all four languages, the indirect object is equal to the direct object
pronoun, except in the 3rd person. |
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In all five languages,
the indirect object pronoun precedes the conjugated verb, except loro in Italian. |
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Examples: Il leur
parle, but Parla loro (French/Italian: He speaks to them.) |
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In Portugal, you may
place the pronouns after the verb, if it stands alone. (Diz-lhe -- S/He
tells him/her) |
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In all five languages,
the pronoun comes after a negation: No le digo (Spanish:
I do not tell him/her). |
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Except in French, the
indirect object is attached to the infinitive, to the auxiliary verb in a
compound infinitive, and to participles, but it can also be placed before the
conjugated verb. |
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Examples: Quiero preguntarle. (Spanish/French: I want to ask him/her.), but Je veux lui
demander. |
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In Portuguese, like in
French, the pronoun may come before the verb (Pode me dizer?Can
you tell me?) |
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In all five languages,
the direct object pronouns come after the verb in affirmative commands. |
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Examples: Demandez-lui (French: Ask him). |
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In French, please note
that me and te become moi
and toi: Demandez-moi
(Ask me). |
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En/Y --
Particulary of the French Language |
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En and
Y are personal pronouns
that refer to objects. En replaces an expression with the preposition de. |
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Y replaces
an expression that starts with any preposition except de, for example à, dans, and sur. |
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Examples: Je parle de
ce livre. J'en parle. (I talk about this book. I talk about it.) |
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Nous partons à Paris. Nous y partons. (We
leave for Paris. We leave for it.) |
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BUT Je
parle de Simon. Je
parle de lui. (I speak about Simon. I speak about him.) -- Simon is a person. |
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Ne/Ci/Vi -- Particularity of the Italian
Language |
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Ne is
used to replace the adverb there and all prepositional expressions. (Non ne ho bisogno -- I have no |
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need of
it). Ci and vi are
used to replace an expression beginning with the preposition a (Ci penso/I think |
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about it), as well as the adverb there (Ci
vado/ I am going there). |
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When both direct and
indirect object pronouns are used, the indirect object comes first, except in
French for lui and leur. |
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Examples: Les lo conta, but Il le
leur raconte.
(Spanish/French: He tells it to them.) |
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In French, y and en come last. Example: Nous parlons à tout le monde de ce livre à Paris. Nous leur y en parlons. |
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(We
tell everyone about this book in Paris. We tell them about it in Paris.) |
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In Portuguese, the
indirect and direct object pronouns contract to mo, ma,
mos, mas (me with o, a, os, as), to, ta, tos, tas (te with
o, a, os, as), to lho, lha, lhos, lhas (lhe and lhes with o, a, os, as), to no-lo, no-la, no-los, no-las (nos
with o, a, os, as), and
to vo-lo, vo-la, vo-los, vo-las (vos
with o, a, os, as). |
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In Spanish, the indirect
object pronouns le and les change to se when followed by lo, la, los, and las. |
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Example: Yo se lo digo. (I tell it to him/her/them.) |
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Similarly, in Italian,
ALL indirect object pronouns change, when followed by lo,
la, li, le, and ne. |
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Mi
becomes me; ti becomes te; ci --> ce; vi --> ve; gli --> glie; ne --> ni. |
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Examples: Ce lo dà.
(Italian: S/he gives it to us.) |
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