Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

When using a modal verb (like *potere*, *volere*, *dovere*, or *sapere*) followed by an infinitive, you have two options for where to place a direct object pronoun like *lo*, *la*, *li*, or *le*.

### Attached to the infinitive

Drop the final **-e** of the infinitive and attach the pronoun directly to the end. For example, *riparare* (to repair) becomes *ripararlo* (to repair it).

{{item:807560}}

{{item:807565}}

### Before the modal verb

Place the pronoun immediately before the conjugated modal verb, just as you would with a single verb.

{{item:807562}}

{{item:807570}}

### It's your choice!

Both positions are grammatically correct and mean exactly the same thing. You will often hear them used interchangeably.

{{item:807582}}

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Past tense of modal verbs

Question	Answer
to repair	riparare
The phone is broken, can you repair it please?	Il telefono è rotto, puoi ripararlo per favore?
We do not know how to repair it.	Non sappiamo ripararlo.
They must repair it today.	Lo devono riparare oggi.
the form	il modulo
to fill out	compilare
This form is important, you must fill it out well.	Questo modulo è importante, devi compilarlo bene.
It is a long form, do you want to fill it out together?	È un modulo lungo, lo volete compilare insieme?
the suitcase	la valigia
to move	spostare
The suitcase is very heavy, can I move it?	La valigia è molto pesante, posso spostarla?
It is your suitcase, you must move it.	È la tua valigia, la devi spostare.
the heating	il riscaldamento
to turn on	accendere
We want to use the heating, can you turn it on?	Vogliamo usare il riscaldamento, potete accenderlo?
The cake is ready, I want to taste it.	La torta è pronta, la voglio assaggiare.
the oven	il forno
to turn off	spegnere
The oven is too hot, I want to turn it off.	Il forno è troppo caldo, voglio spegnerlo.
The window is open, we must close it immediately.	La finestra è aperta, la dobbiamo chiudere subito.
to print	stampare
The tickets? You must print them before the trip.	I biglietti? Dovete stamparli prima del viaggio.
I can print them for you.	Li posso stampare io per te.
Can I print it in the office, or must I print it at home?	Posso stamparlo in ufficio, o lo devo stampare a casa?
The room is cold. Can you turn on the heating? Yes, I can turn it on.	La stanza è fredda. Può accendere il riscaldamento? Sì, lo posso accendere.
The cake is ready. Can I turn off the oven? Yes, you can turn it off, thank you.	La torta è pronta. Posso spegnere il forno? Sì, può spegnerlo, grazie.