AbstractWe consider the adjoint representation of a Hopf algebra $H$ focusing on the locally finite part, $H_{{\textrm ad\,fin}}$, defined as the sum of all finite-dimensional subrepresentations. For virtually cocommutative $H$ (i.e., $H$ is finitely generated as module over a cocommutative Hopf subalgebra), we show that $H_{{\textrm ad\,fin}}$ is a Hopf subalgebra of $H$. This is a consequence of the fact, proved here, that locally finite parts yield a tensor functor on the module category of any virtually pointed Hopf algebra. For general Hopf algebras, $H_{{\textrm ad\,fin}}$ is shown to be a left coideal subalgebra. We also prove a version of Dietzmann's Lemma from group theory for Hopf algebras.