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Le fanciulle cantano; esse sono felici.

Le fanciulle cantano; esse sono felici.
The maidens sing; they are happy.
From Lesson 429:Literary subject pronouns (egli, ella, essi)·Italian

Questions & Answers about Le fanciulle cantano; esse sono felici.

Why use esse here instead of loro for "they"?
In modern spoken Italian, loro is almost always used as the subject pronoun for "they" for both masculine and feminine subjects. However, esse is the traditional, formal, and literary feminine subject pronoun. You will frequently encounter it in literature, formal writing, and older texts.
If the sentence were about boys (i fanciulli), how would the pronoun change?
It would become essi sono felici. Essi is the masculine plural literary pronoun for "they". Notice that the adjective felici remains exactly the same, because adjectives ending in -e in the singular change to -i in the plural for both masculine and feminine nouns.
Since Italian normally drops subject pronouns, is esse strictly necessary here?
No, you could easily write Le fanciulle cantano; sono felici. However, in literary contexts, writers sometimes include pronouns like esse for stylistic rhythm, gentle emphasis, or to explicitly bridge the two clauses.
Is fanciulle a common word for "girls" in everyday Italian?
Not anymore. Fanciulla (maiden or young girl) is a literary or slightly archaic word, which pairs perfectly with the formal pronoun esse. In everyday conversation, you would use ragazze or bambine and refer to them with the modern pronoun loro.

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