1. Personal pronouns are transformed in the following cases:
| Subject pronouns | Object pronouns |
| io (I) | me (me) |
| tu (you) | te (you) |
| lui/lei (he/she) | lui/lei (him/her) |
| loro (they) | loro (them) |
Object pronouns are used in the following cases:
a) In comparative sentences, introduced by: come (as), quanto (as), più di (more than), meno di (less than).
- Io sono meno bravo di te.
- I’m less good than you.
- Tu non sei come loro.
- You are not like them.
- Carlo non è intelligente quanto lei.
- Carlo is not as intelligent as her.
b). In exclamatory expressions.
- Povero me!
- Poor me!
- Beato te!
- Lucky you!
- Felice lui!
- Happy him!
- Felici loro!
- Happy them!
2. When they have a predicative function and the subject is different.
Subject personal pronouns are transformed into nominal predicate functions (i.e. with the verbs: essere to be, sembrare to seem, parere to appear, diventare to become…) if there is identity between the subject of the sentence and the pronoun.
| io | io |
| tu | tu |
| lui/lei | lui/lei |
- Ricordati, io sono sempre io.
- Remember, I’m still me.
- Carlo è sempre lui, non cambia mai!
- Carlo is always the same, he never changes!
If there is no identity between the subject of the sentence and the pronoun
| io | me |
| tu | te |
| lui/lei | lui/lei |
- Lui non è me, quindi non può capirmi.
- He is not me, so he cannot understand me.
- Mario sembra te: è testardo.
- Mario looks like you: he’s stubborn.
- Tu non puoi diventare lei.
- You can’t become her.
- Se tu fossi me.
- If you were me.
- Se io fosse te.
- If I were you.
Next Lesson:
Usi dei pronomi personali soggetti / Uses of subject personal pronouns.