subject pronouns

What do you mean by "subject"?

The grammatical “subject” of a sentence is the person, place or thing doing an action. So in the sentence, "Tom jumps," the subject is Tom - he's the one jumping.

What do you mean by "pronoun"?

After you mention a person, place or thing specifically once or twice, you usually refer to it again using a “pronoun”. So a pronoun is just a short word that refers to a previously mentioned person, place or thing. You use pronouns to avoid sounding clumsy and repetitive.

OK so what's a "subject pronoun"? 

This is just the pronoun you use to refer to the subject of the sentence, the person place or thing doing the action. In English these are…

I

you

he

she

it

you

we

they

In Italian they are…

io (I)

tu (you, informal)

Lei (you, formal)

lui (he)

lei (she)

noi (we)

voi (you, when addressing more than one person)

loro (they)

Unlike “I”, “io” is not capitalized.

There is no Italian for “it”.

You use Lei instead of tu when you want to be really polite and respectful towards people your own age or older before you get to know them, and towards “people of rank”. When in doubt, use Lei. Do not use it with children though.

Now you know the Italian subject pronouns.