Topic first, then the comment
Italian likes to put the topic first: what you are talking about, usually something already known in the conversation. The new information follows. A pronoun inside the sentence picks the topic up again. This is called dislocazione a sinistra, left dislocation.
Blueprint
Same statement, different weighting
Unmarked
A neutral piece of information, not linked to anything said before.
Prendo sempre il caffè al bar.
I always have my coffee at the bar.
Left-dislocated
You were just talking about coffee. Now comes what you have to say about it.
Il caffè, lo prendo sempre al bar.
Coffee, I always have at the bar.
Which pronoun picks up the topic
The pronoun depends on the role the topic would have in the sentence. For a direct object it is required. For the others it is usually optional, but very common in speech.
Topic and pronoun
| Role of the topic | Pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| direct object | lo, la, li, le (required) | Le chiavi, le ho lasciate in macchina. |
| a + person | gli, le (optional) | A Marco, non gli ho detto niente. |
| place | ci (optional) | A Napoli, ci torno ogni estate. |
| di + thing, quantity | ne | Di libri, ne ho letti tanti quest'anno. |
When lo, la, li or le comes before a compound tense, the participle agrees with the topic: La torta, l'ha fatta Giulia.
La torta, l'ha fatta Giulia.
The cake, Giulia made it.
A Marco, non gli ho detto niente.
Marco, I haven't told him anything.
Questo libro, devo restituirlo entro venerdì.
This book, I have to return it by Friday.
The doubling A Marco … gli belongs to speech. In careful writing you usually drop the second pronoun: A Marco non ho detto niente.
Why you move the topic forward
Link to what is known
A
E il regalo per la mamma?
And what about Mum's present?
B
Il regalo, l'ho già comprato ieri.
The present, I already bought it yesterday.
Set topics against each other
Il vino, lo porto io; il dolce, lo fa Sara.
I'll bring the wine; Sara's doing dessert.
Switch topics
Il lavoro, invece, lo trovo sempre più stressante.
Work, on the other hand, I find more and more stressful.
Topic or focus
Without a pronoun, a fronted object is no longer a topic but a contrastive focus: it is stressed and contradicts something. That only works with a strong accent, usually with a correction after it.
Il caffè, lo prendo al bar.
Coffee, I have at the bar.
topic: known, unstressed, with pronoun
Il caffè prendo al bar, non il tè.
It's the coffee I have at the bar, not the tea.
focus: new, stressed, no pronoun
English fronts topics without a pronoun: Coffee, I always have at the bar. A pronoun there (Coffee, I always have it) sounds clumsy, so English speakers tend to drop the one Italian needs.
