| 7.1.1 Position of the pronouns in relationship to the verb |
You have already seen that the objective pronouns in Italian in general stands in front of the verb, in English behind the verb.
| I give him the book. | 
|
| Gli do il libro. |
You can distinguish several situations.
case I: The sentence doesn' t have a modal verb: The personal pronoun is before the first conjugated verb.
| Examples | |
| I buy it. | |
| Lo compro. | |
| I have bought it. | |
| L'ho comprato. | |
| I haven' t bought it . | |
| Non lo compro. | |
| I haven' t bought it. | |
| Non l'ho comprato. | |
| I give him the book. |
|
| Gli do il libro. | |
| I don' t give him the book. |
|
| Non gli do il libro. | |
| I have given him the book. | |
| Gli ho dato il libro. |
|
| I haven' t given him the book. | |
| Non gli ho dato il libro. |
|
case II: There is a modal verb. In these case the pronoun is in front of the first conjugated verb or is added to the infinitive.
| Examples | |
| I can see him. | |
| Lo posso vedere. / Posso vederlo. |
|
| I can give him the book. | |
| Gli posso dare il libro. / Posso dargli il libro. |
|
| I can' t give him the book. | |
| Non gli posso dare il libro. / Non posso dargli il libro. |
|
This basic rules applies as well if there are several pronouns (I give it to him => Glielo do).
If you speak French, please note that it is NOT as in French. The pronouns never stands in front of the infinitive.
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