Back when Oprah first started her show, almost every single episode included confessions.

(She was the queen of the shock factor.)

While I don’t have a crazy confession about controlling parents or a secret look into the lives of dogs with jobs, I do have something to confess.

For a looooooong time, I wasn’t comfortable with using pronouns in Italian.

(Think “lo”, “la”, “li”, “gli”, etc.)

This is a big confession because one of the most popular articles on the website is about how to use pronouns.

Obviously knowing the “rules” & using them were not connecting.

But for some reason, I kept avoiding truly learning them – maybe in the hopes that they would just click one day after a lot of speaking.

However, not knowing how to use them made my emails, texts to friends, and conversations always more awkward than they needed to be – whether that was because I avoided using them, used them incorrectly (think using “to her” instead of “to him”) or just froze, stared and wondered what to say next to save myself.

It finally got a point where I was tired of being confused and guessing which ones to use.

Well, it turns out that I dragged that one problem out MUCH longer than I needed to because when I made an effort to learn them, it took me less than a couple of weeks.

And after I did that, I decided to create a 10-Day Italian Pronouns Challenge for all of the other people I know who have been confused, annoyed and troubled by them.

To help you figure out if you always need to solidify your foundation with pronouns (or perhaps need a refresher), my team and I put together this free quiz to test your Italian pronoun knowledge.

This 26-question quiz will take you on a pronoun-filled journey to help you figure out which level of the challenge you’re ready to take.

It’s like wearing the sorting hat in Harry Potter…except not because you have to do work.

You may be tempted to let your final score discourage you. So I want to tell you in advance to please don’t do that. Instead, I want you to see your final score as a challenge for how much you can learn and to see what is possible if you decide to take the 10-Day Italian Pronouns Challenge.

See it as an opportunity instead of a shortcoming.

If you’re ready to take it now, there are two ways:

1.) Download the PDF version of the questions and answers to take the quiz on your computer / tablet.

2.) Take out a sheet of paper to write down the answers to the following questions. Then download the PDF version to check your answers.

QUESTIONS

SECTION 1: FILL-IN-THE-BLANK

1.) Dov’è la mia lettera? –>  ______‘ho buttata via. – Where is my letter? –> I threw it away.

2.) ______ ______ è messa. – She put it (the dress – il vestito) on.

3.) ______ prepariamo la cena. – We prepare dinner for him.

4.) Chiamerò mio marito e ______ chiederò se vuole raggiunger ______. – I will call my

husband, and I will ask him if he wants to join us.

5.) Se vuoi, ______ posso aiutare. – If you like, I can help you. (Informal)

6.) Prendo le fragole dal frigo. –> ______ prendo. – I’m getting the strawberries from the fridge. –> I’m getting them.

7.) Perché ______ parli? – Why are you talking to him?

8.) Inviti Alessandro? –> Sì, ______‘invito.  – Are you inviting Alessandro? — Yes, I’m inviting him.

9.) Choose the correct gender for each pronoun by typing an “M” or an “F” in the blank space, e.g. “Il – M”

Il – ______ Lo – ______ La – ______ I – ______ Gli – ______ Le – ______

SECTION II: MULTIPLE CHOICE

10.) Italian: Le hai dato i regali? –> ______ ho dati. English: You gave the gifts to her? –> I gave them to her.

A.) GLIELI B.) GLIELO C.) GLIENE D.) GLIEGLI

11.) Italian: Lui non ______ vuole sapere. English: He doesn’t want to know about it (masculine).

A.) LO B.) LA C.) NE D.) CI

12.) Italian: ______ ______ ripeto. English: I’ll repeat it (masculine-singular) to all of you.

A.) VI LO B.) VE LO C.) VI LI D.) VE LA

13.) Italian: Lui non vuole ______. English: He doesn’t want to give it (the cake – la torta) to her.

A.) DARLELA B.) DARGLIELA C.) DARGLIELO D.) DARLELE

14.) How would you translate “give it to me” in Italian if you were speaking to a close friend? The “it” is il telefonino (cellphone).

A.) DAMMELA B.) DAMMELO C.) ME LO DAI D.) MI LO DAI

15.) Italian: Dobbiamo chiamare Leonardo? –> Sì, dobbiamo ______. English: Should we call Leonardo? –> Yes, we should call him.

A.) CHIAMARGLI B.) CHIAMARLO C.) CHIAMARE LO D.) CHIAMARLA

16.) Italian: Apro la porta. –> __ apro. English: I open the door. –> I open it.

A.) L’APRO B.) LA APRO C.) LO APRO D.) L’APRA

17.) Italian: Avete fatto i compiti? –> Sì, ______ abbiamo fatti. English: Have you all done the homework? –> Yes, we did it.

A.) LO B.) LI C.) LE D.) LA

18.) Italian: Ti piace mangiare le lasagne? –> Sì, mi piace ______. English: Do you like to eat lasagna? –> Yes, I like to eat it.

A.) MANGIARLE B.) MANGIARLO C.) MANGIARLI D.) MANGIARLA

19.) Italian: Hai visto il mio telefonino? ______ perso. English: Have you seen my cellphone? I lost it.

A.) L’HA B.) LI HO C.) LE HO D.) L’HO

20.) Italian: ______ ho offerto un caffé. English: I offered her a cup of coffee.

A.) GLI B.) LA C.) LE D.) VI

21.) Italian: Ieri sera ______ ho chiamato! (Informal) English: I called you last night!

A.) LO B.) TI C.) LE D.) GLI

22.) Italian: Quando rispondi a Lucia? –> ______ rispondo domani. English: When are you answering Lucia? –> I’ll answer her tomorrow.

A.) LA B.) LO C.) LE D.) GLI

23.) Italian: Hai mangiato la carne? –> No, non ______ mangiata. English: Did you eat the meat? –> No, I didn’t eat it.

A.) L’HO B.) L’HA C.) LI HO D.) LE HO

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You’re all done!

The answers can be found in this PDF.

Remember what I said before, this quiz was HARD, so don’t feel like you:

A.) Failed

B.) Are bad at Italian

Like all of us, even people who have been speaking Italian for years, there’s always room for improvement.

Have questions about this quiz? Leave a comment below!