Past participle agreement with direct object pronouns

Le mele? Le ho comprate ieri.The apples? I bought them yesterday.

With avere, the past participle usually stays the same (ho comprato). But when a direct object pronoun lo, la, li, le stands before the auxiliary, the participle agrees with it in gender and number, and the last letter shows who or what the pronoun stands for.

Quick shortcut: Ho comprato le mele (noun after the verb → comprato stays the same) but Le ho comprate** (pronoun before the auxiliary → comprate agrees).

1. The four forms

The participle agrees in gender and number with the noun the pronoun replaces: -o (masculine singular), -a (feminine singular), -i (masculine plural), -e (feminine plural).

More examples:

• Dove hai messo le chiavi? Le ho messe in tasca. (Where did you put the keys? I put them in my pocket.)
• Hai visto Marco? Sì, l'ho visto poco fa. (Have you seen Marco? Yes, I saw him a moment ago.)
• E Giulia? L'ho vista ieri. (And Giulia? I saw her yesterday.)

In the singular, lo and la drop to l' before ho, hai, ha, so the participle is the only clue to the gender: L'ho visto is "him", L'ho vista is "her". The plural li and le are normally not shortened: Li ho visti, Le ho viste.

This works in questions too: Dove le hai comprate? Quanto l'hai pagata? (How much did you pay for it?)

2. With mi, ti, ci, vi: optional

When the direct pronoun is mi, ti, ci, vi, agreement is optional. Both are correct, and the participle follows the real person (or people), not a grammatical gender:

• Anna mi ha visto / vista ieri. (said by a man / by a woman)
• Ti ho chiamato / chiamata. (to a man / to a woman)
• Maria ci ha visti. (Maria saw us. Plural forms such as visti or viste follow the group.)

Agreeing is more typical of careful writing; leaving the participle unchanged is common in speech.

3. When there is no agreement

The participle does not agree in these cases:

• A noun after the verb: Ho comprato le mele. The agreement appears only when a direct object pronoun comes before the auxiliary.
• An indirect pronoun (mi, ti, gli, le, ci, vi meaning "to someone"): Le ho scritto (I wrote to her), Gli ho telefonato. See Indirect object pronouns.

Note that le can be a direct pronoun ("them", feminine) or an indirect pronoun ("to her"). Only the direct one gives agreement: Le ho comprate (the apples) vs Le ho scritto (to her).

With ne ("of it, of them"), agreement has its own rules: see Ne for quantities.

4. A different rule with essere

Verbs with essere agree with the subject all the time (Anna è arrivata), whatever pronoun is around. See The passato prossimo with essere. This article is only about avere and a direct pronoun placed before it. For the pronouns and their position, see Direct object pronouns and Position of object pronouns.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Le ho comprato. (about the apples) → ✅ Le ho comprate.
• ❌ Li ho visto. (about the children) → ✅ Li ho visti.
• ❌ Ho comprate le mele. → ✅ Ho comprato le mele. (noun after the verb: no agreement)
• ❌ Le ho scritta. (I wrote to her) → ✅ Le ho scritto. (an indirect pronoun does not trigger agreement)

Quick check

Try replacing the noun with a pronoun and making the participle agree.

1. Ho comprato le scarpe.
2. Ho visto Marco.
3. Hai mangiato la torta?
4. Ho preso i biglietti.
5. Hai chiamato Anna?
6. Ho scritto a Maria.

Key takeaways

• With avere, the participle agrees with lo, la, li, le when the pronoun stands before the auxiliary: L'ho vista, Li ho visti, Le ho comprate.
• With mi, ti, ci, vi, agreement is optional and follows the real person or people.
• A noun after the verb or an indirect pronoun gives no agreement: Ho comprato le mele, Le ho scritto.
• Before ho, hai, ha, lo/la become l', so the participle shows the gender.
• With essere, the participle agrees with the subject, which is a different rule.