Italian - Adam

[Adam Sz.]

Ciao! I've started this thread so as to have my own place for asking you about some intricacies of the Italian language. My Italian needs brushing-up. My first question here is about personal pronouns - in my book for beginners they use only lui and lei for "he" and "she", but I know that there's also egli and ella. So is the speaker allowed to decide which one to choose or are there any special rules for that?

[Massimiliano B]

Ciao Adam Sz !"Lui" and "lei" are commonly used in the spoken language. In the written language you can use "lui" and "lei", but in formal writings "egli" and "essa" (feminine) is better. "Egli", which refers only to persons, and "essa", are used also in the very formal spoken language. "Essa" is more formal than "lei", and can be used also for things or animals. "Ella" is the highest form of the feminine pronouns and refers only to persons, but it's nowadays obsolete. There's also "esso" (singular and masculine) which refers only to things or animals. It's not very common both in the spoken or in the written language.

[Adam Sz.]

Ciao! C’è qualcuno qui chi ha il cd “teach yourself improve your italian“? Già ho il libro ma purtroppo non posso studiare perché è un po’ difficile senza suono

[densou]

check out your PM box

[italianlessonslondon]

Try to download it on emule

[rykketid]

egli and ella are very seldom used, by now they are used for literary things only. They sound very formal and very poetic.