Compliment personal pronouns can perform two functions:
- Direct (object) compliment: Anna ascolta me (Anna listens to me)/Anna mi ascolta(Anna listens to me).
- Indirect compliment: Anna pensa a me (Anna thinks of me)/Anna mi pensa(Anna thinks of me).
Both Functions can have two forms: (Tonica and Atona)
The forms (Atona/Tonica) vary depending on whether they perform the function of direct (object) compliment or indirect (object) compliment.
1. La forma tonica / The tonic form.
La forma tonica: is a tonic (or a strong) form, which gives the pronoun particular prominence in the sentence:
- Anna ascolta me (Anna listens to me)
- Anna pensa a me (Anna thinks of me).
| Forma Tonica Complimento diretto | Forma Tonica Complimento indiretto |
| me | (a/di/con..) me |
| te | (a/di/con..) te |
| lui (esso)/sé | (a/di..) lui/sé |
| lei (essa)/sé | (a/di).. lei/sé |
| noi | (a/di/con..) noi |
| voi | (a/di/con..) voi |
| loro (essi)/sé loro (esse)/sé | (a/di/con..) loro/sé |
In tonic forms (forme toniche) the most marked element is the pronoun (which focuses attention on itself).
- Egli desidera incontrare me, non vuole vedere nessun altro.
- (He wants to meet me, he doesn’t want to see anyone else).
- Carlo racconterà solo a lui ciò che ha visto.
- (Carlo will only tell him what he saw).
The strong form is used with prepositions:
- Vengo con te.
- (I come with you).
- Abbiamo parlato molto di voi.
- (We talked a lot about you).
- Questo regalo è per lei.
- (This gift is for her).
In the 3rd person, sé (instead of he/she/they) is used when the pronoun refers to the subject of the sentence:
- Michele pensa solo a sé.
- (Michele thinks only of himself).
- Michele pensa solo a lui.
- (Michele thinks only of him).
Sé (self) is Michael himself, so the sentence means that Michael thinks only of himself- (Sé stesso), and not of others, because he is selfish.
Lui (he) is not Michele but another person, for example, his son, his brother, his friend…
Note:
The pronoun sé is always stressed when isolated to distinguish it from the conjunction se (if).
- Se lui riflettera tra sé, capirà.
- (If he thinks to himself, he will understand).
instead, it is not stressed before stesso and stessa because here it is clear that it is a pronoun:
- Se pensa a se stesso, fa bene.
- (If he thinks of himself, he does well).
However, it must again be stressed in the plural, in cases such as sé stesse and sé stessi so as not to confuse them with past subjunctives of the verb stare (stessi), such as:
- “Mi chiedevi se stessi bene”.
- “you asked me if I was okay”.