ITA 101 Lecture 4: Subject Pronouns and essere

• School: University at Buffalo
• Department: Italian
• Course: ITA 101
• Professor: Andrew Serio

Document Summary

Topics: (1) subject pronouns (2) the verb essere ( to be ) (3) new vocabulary (1) subject pronouns (pronomi soggetto): Ordinarily it is not necessary to use the subject pronoun since in most cases (as will be seen) the verb form indicates the subject. Singular (singulare) io i tu you (informal) Lei you (formal) lui he lei she. Plural (plurale) noi we voi you (informal and formal) loro they. Tu is used for addressing friends, family, small children, and pets. These days it is common for young people to address each other with tu even if they don"t know each other. Lei is a formal way of addressing people holding positions deserving of respect, older people, and people you do not know. A conversation can start off as formal, but may switch to informal after permission from one of the people partaking in conversation. Voi is a common way to address multiple people in formal and informal situations.