Ho conosciuto la figlia di Piero (ne/gli)

[Cassidy's Mom]

Ok, I think I've read everything there is in the forum regarding this matter including a long document by Cadorini entitled "A proposito dell'origine della declinazione del pronome clitico di terza persona in italiano"...if you can help me with my question you are my hero!

Here's a sentence: “Ho conosicuto la figlia di Piero”
It could be written "Ne ho conosciuto la figlia." (right??)

"Ne" is there because of “di Piero” and please correct me if I'm wrong...

If I don’t use “di Piero” in the sentence, would the following be correct?

“Ecco Piero. Gli ho conosciuto la figlia.” (Meaning "Ho conosciuto sua figlia.")

Any takers? Thanks a million.

 

[MünchnerFax]

Ne ho conosciuto la figlia is right (provided that it's already clear you are referring to Piero, otherwise the next question would be "Whose daughter??" ), but it sounds a bit like talking posh. Ho conosciuto sua figlia would be the standard sentence.

Gli ho conosciuto la figlia is wrong.

 

[Cassidy's Mom]

Thank you for your response, I'm slow, but I'm getting closer to understanding...

I would like to ask a related question if I may:

If Pietro gets his bike stolen, it could be said "Gli hanno rubato la bici." Why 'gli'? Does it refer to "his" bike?

 

[Memimao]

In this case gli is the indirect object. In English we would say: they stole his bike; Italian says: to him they stole the bike. It runs like that in Italian

 

[giovannino]

If Pietro gets his bike stolen, it could be said "Gli hanno rubato la bici." Why 'gli'? Does it refer to "his" bike?

"Gli" = "a lui". We often use the combined form of "a + pronoun" where you would use a possessive adjective:

Gli hanno rapito la figlia = they kidnapped his daughter

Gli hanno rubato la macchina = they stole his car

Mi hanno distrutto la casa = they wrecked my house