In Italian, io means I in English and is the personal pronoun used for the first person singular. It refers to the speaker or the person who is talking about themselves.
For example:
“Io sono felice.” – I am happy.
“Io studio italiano.” – I study Italian.
In spoken Italian, io is often omitted because the verb endings usually indicate the subject. For instance, instead of saying “Io studio italiano”, you can simply say “Studio italiano”, and it will still mean I study Italian. However, io is used when you want to emphasize the subject or clarify who is doing the action.
For example:
“Io ho fatto i compiti, non tu.” – I did the homework, not you.
In summary, io is the Italian equivalent of I and is used to refer to oneself as the subject of a sentence.