Passato Prossimo with Pronouns

One of the trickiest parts of Italian grammar is the agreement rule: when a direct object pronoun comes before the verb in the passato prossimo (with avere), the past participle must agree in gender and number with the pronoun.

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Quick Review: Passato Prossimo

The passato prossimo is formed with an auxiliary verb (avere or essere) + past participle:

Auxiliary	Example	English
avere	Ho mangiato.	I ate. / I have eaten.
essere	Sono andato/a.	I went. / I have gone.

Normally, with avere the past participle does not change: Ho mangiato la pizza. Ho mangiato il panino. (same ending: -o)

But when a direct object pronoun comes before the verb, the participle must agree.

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The Agreement Rule

When lo, la, li, le (or combined pronouns containing them) precede avere + past participle, the participle ending changes to match:

Pronoun	Gender/Number	Participle Ending	Example
lo	masc. singular	-o	L'ho visto. (I saw him/it.)
la	fem. singular	-a	L'ho vista. (I saw her/it.)
li	masc. plural	-i	Li ho visti. (I saw them.)
le	fem. plural	-e	Le ho viste. (I saw them.)

More Examples

Without Pronoun	With Pronoun	English
Ho comprato il libro.	L'ho comprato.	I bought it. (masc.)
Ho comprato la gonna.	L'ho comprata.	I bought it. (fem.)
Ho comprato i biglietti.	Li ho comprati.	I bought them. (masc.)
Ho comprato le mele.	Le ho comprate.	I bought them. (fem.)
Ho mangiato la pizza.	L'ho mangiata.	I ate it.
Ho visto i film.	Li ho visti.	I saw them.

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Agreement with Mi, Ti, Ci, Vi

With mi, ti, ci, vi the agreement is optional but common in everyday Italian:

Strict Grammar	Common Usage	English
Marco mi ha chiamato.	Marco mi ha chiamata. (if speaker is female)	Marco called me.
Ti ho visto ieri.	Ti ho vista ieri. (if "you" is female)	I saw you yesterday.
Ci hanno invitato.	Ci hanno invitati/e.	They invited us.

Tip: With lo, la, li, le the agreement is mandatory. With mi, ti, ci, vi it is optional but sounds natural to native speakers.

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Agreement with Combined Pronouns

When combined pronouns include a direct object component, the same agreement applies: