Adverbs prima, dopo, durante

The English adverb before is translated prima. In Italian it is always followed by preposition di when introducing a noun or a date; instead, it is followed by conjunction che (that) when introducing a subordinate clause, requiring subjunctive tenses. This page only focuses the first case (prima di ...):

prima di giugno = before June prima del 1970 = before 1970 prima di domani = before tomorrow lunedì viene prima di martedì = monday comes before tuesday

The same adverb may also translate before in sequences (almost suggesting a progression in time):

il sette viene prima dell'otto = number seven comes before number eight la M viene prima della N = (letter) M comes before (letter) N

The adverb after is translated dopo. In Italian it is usually not followed by any preposition (although di is needed in a very limited number of situations, which will be explained in a future paragraph).

dopo giugno = after June dopo il 1970 = after 1970 dopo i fatti di ieri = after yesterday's events martedì viene dopo lunedì = tuesday comes after monday

Also in this case, dopo can be used for sequences, as well:

l'otto viene dopo il sette = number eight comes after number seven la F viene dopo la E = (letter) F comes after (letter) E

The adverb during ... is translated durante ... (without any preposition), and it is used in the same way as in English:

durante la vacanza = during the holiday durante l'anno = during the year abbiamo mangiato il popcorn durante la partita = we eat the popcorn during the match

.1 PERSONAL PRONOUNS USED AS A DIRECT OBJECT

In paragraph 4.1 we have already seen how personal pronouns behave when they act as subjects of a sentence. When these pronouns are used in other cases, they behave in a different way according to which verb tense is used. Their use might appear complicated, but if you follow the topic step by step, they won't be so difficult as they might seem at first sight. The standard personal pronouns used as direct object are:

		singular			plural
1st person		me	me		noi	us
2nd person		te	you (singular)		voi	you (plural)
3rd person		lui lei esso essa	him her it (masculine) it (feminine)		loro	them

You will notice how only some of them change. There is a curious coincidence between the Italian and English form for the 1st singular person (me), although be sure to pronounce it "meh", with a "narrow e" sound (like "may" omitting the sound of "y"). But for each of these pronouns, Italian also has a parallel form, somewhat shorter than the previous one, which is used either as an individual word or as a suffix. I will therefore refer to the previous pronouns as the "full" forms, and to the following ones as the "short" forms:

		singular			plural
1st person		mi (for me)	me		ci (for noi)	us
2nd person		ti (for te)	you (singular)		vi (for voi)	you (plural)
3rd person		lo (for lui and esso) la (for lei and essa)	him, it her, it		li (for loro) le (for loro)	them (masculine) them (feminine)

Notice how "short" forms do no longer make a difference between masculine/feminine and neutre genders. As said in earlier paragraphs, Italian language is affected by this difference very little.

USE OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS AS DIRECT OBJECT

At first, we shall focus the use of pronouns as direct objects.

INFINITIVE

As a general rule, infinitive tense uses suffixes, dropping the last vowel:

vedere = to see, to watch

vedermi = to see me	vederci = to see us
vederti = to see you	vedervi = to see you, plural
vederlo = to see him vederla = to see her	vederli = to see them (masculine) vederle = to see me (feminine)

This same pattern is used with any other verb:

mangiare = to eat - mangiarlo = to eat it salutare = to greet - salutarvi = to greet you (plural) notare = to notice - notarli = to notice them (masculine) capire = to understand - capirci = to understand us

It is also possible to use the other form, not as a suffix though, simply placing the pronoun after the verb. This gives the pronoun a greater emphasis:

vedere me = to see me	vedere noi = to see us
vedere te = to see you	vedere voi = to see you, plural
vedere lui = to see him vedere lei = to see her	vedere loro = to see them

These expressions have a sense of "to see specifically me (or you, etc.), not somebody else". To summarize direct object pronouns used with the infinitive tense:

common form	emphatic form
infinitive-suffix	infinitive + "full" pronoun

INDICATIVE TENSES

All indicative tenses require these pronouns before the verb.

mi vedo = I see myself (literally: I see me) ti vedo = I see you lo vedo = I see him la vedo = I see her vi vedo = I see you (plural) li vedo = I see them (masculine) le vedo = I see them (feminine)

The same pattern is valid with any person:

mi vedi = you see me ti vedono = they see you lo vediamo = we see him la vede = he/she sees her li vedono = they see them ci vede = he/she sees us ci vedete = you see us (plural)

As for infinitive discussed above, also indicative tenses may use a full pronoun after the verb, but this will give specific emphasis to the pronoun:

mi vedi = you see me may also be turned into vedi me (meaning you see me, not somebody else) ci vedete = you see us may also be turned into vedete noi etc. etc.

In these cases, even more stress may be obtained by specifying the subject's own pronoun:

mi vedi = you see me (no emphasis) vedi me = you see me (strong emphasis on "me") tu vedi me = you see me (everything is emphasized)

It should be noted that the "short" form of personal pronouns (mi, ti, etc.) is also used for reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, etc.). But reflexive forms will be dealt with in paragraph 8.3, so for the time being we will disregard this form, using "short" pronouns only as me, you, etc. All patterns shown above in present tense may be used with any other indicative tense:

ti vedevo = I saw you lo vedrò = I'll see him la vidi = I saw her mi hanno visto = they have seen me ti avevano visto = they had seen you etc. etc.

So, to summarize direct object pronouns for any indicative tense:

common form	emphatic form
"short" pronoun + verb	verb + "full" pronoun