The purpose of a pronoun is to "stand in" for a noun. Pronouns can be of several varieties, a number of which are presented in the following section of 99problemi:
Direct object pronouns (pronomi di oggetto diretto) replace a direct object in a sentence or command. The direct object is the one being affected by the action of the verb.
Take for example the following sentence:
Il ragazzo mangia una mela. The boy eats an apple.
Here the mela is the direct object, receiving the action of the verb.
Replacing the direct object with a direct object pronoun, one arrives at the following:
Il ragazzo la mangia. The boy eats it.
Here is a table of the Italian direct object pronouns:
| Singular | Plural | ||
| me | mi | us | ci |
| you | ti | you (pl) | vi |
| him / it (m) | lo | them (m) | li |
| her / it (f) | la | them (f) | le |
| you (form) | La |
If you want to negate a sentence with a direct object pronoun you simply add non in front of the pronoun:
Lui non la mangia. He does not eat it.
To learn & practice how to use direct object pronouns, watch the following video: