What Are Possessive Adjectives in Italian?
The possessive adjectives are those words that translate from the English: “my, your, her, his, our, their”. They denote ownership between two objects.
For example,
- La mia cassa → my house
- Il suo cane → his dog
- Il nostro lavoro → our job
In Italian, a possessive adjective in always used before a noun and preceded by a definite article, as in the examples given above. Because they are adjectives, it’s important to remember that you’ll need to modify them according to the gender and number of the noun they are preceding.
For example,
The Italian possessive “Mio” becomes
- Mia in front of a singular feminine noun [la mia casa]
- Miei in front of plural masculine nouns [i miei amici]
- Mie in front of plural feminine nouns [le mie amiche]
| Masc. Sing. | Fem. Sing. | Masc. Plur. | Fem. Plur. |
| il mio | la mia | i miei | le mie |
| il tuo | la tua | i tuoi | le tue |
| il suo | la sua | i suoi | le sue |
| il nostro | la nostra | i nostri | le nostre |
| il vostro | la vostra | i vostri | le vostre |
| il loro | la loro | i loro | le loro |
In short, unlike English, “my” has four different forms and is always preceded by a definite article.
Italian vs. English
#1 The use of the articles
The Italian possessive adjectives are always accompanied by articles (except in some cases, which I will touch upon below). In English, instead, they are never used with articles.
For example
- La mia borsa – my bag
- Il nostro libro – our book
- La sua ragazza – his girlfriend
- Il suo gatto – her cat
#2 The us of his/her
Another significant difference between English and Italian is that the Italian possessive adjectives must agree in gender and number with the object which is “owned” and not with “the owner”.
For example, let’s assume Maria has a dog. In English, we would refer to it as, her dog.” We would use “her” in reference to Maria. In Italian, however, we would say “il suo cane” (rather than “la sua cane”).
Why?
Because, in Italian, the possessive adjectives have to match the object that is “owned” and not the “owner.”
In the above example, “suo” refers to the dog and not to Maria; hence, it is masculine, because the word “cane”, in Italian, is masculine.
Il suo cane could both mean his or her dog in English.
Il suo amico could both mean his or her friend in English.
The Italian Possessive Adjectives With Family Members
The possessive adjectives must always be preceded by an article, as was previously mentioned, with one major exception.
The use of possessive adjectives with family members.
The article is omitted when referring to family members in the singular (such as madre, padre, sorella, zio, cugino, etc.). No wonder, this is one of the most recurring mistakes Italian learners make.
Examples,
- Mia madre – my mother
- Mia moglie – my wife
- Mio marito – my husband
- Mio padre – my father
- Mia sorella – my sister
- Mio fratello – my brother
- Mio zio – my uncle
- Mio cugino – my cousin
- Mio nonno – my grandfather
- Mia nonna – my grandmother
- Mio cognato – my brother-in-law
Nevertheless, the article is always used:
#1 When referring to more than one relative
- Le mie sorelle – my sisters
- I suoi fratelli – her/his brothers
- I miei cugini – my cousins
- I nostri zii – our uncles
- I loro nonni – their grandparents
#2 When an adjective is used to describe the relative
- La mia amata madre – my beloved mother
- Il mio caro padre – my dear father
- Il mio carissimo zio – my beloved uncle
3# With the possessive adjective loro:
- La loro madre – their mother
- Il loro padre – their father
- Le loro sorelle – their sisters
Remember that the possessive “loro” is always the same and that the article before it determines the gender and number.
- Il loro amico – their friend (m.)
- La loro amica – their friend (f.)
- I loro amici – their friends
Interesting uses of the possessive adjectives
(If you’re a beginner or intermediate Italian learner, you can skip this for now)
The Italian possessive adjective is always placed before the noun. However, in some cases, when it follows the noun, it is used to emphasize or stress the emotional meaning of the sentence.
- Mamma mia!
- Questa è casa mia! –
In certain idiomatic expressions, the possessives are used as nouns.
- I miei – My parents
- I tuoi – Your parents
- Alla nostra! – Cheers
Finally, when the possessive is used as a pronoun (not attached to a noun, but replacing a noun), the articles are often omitted.
- Di chi è questa borsa? E’ mia / Whose bag is this? It’s mine
- Di chi è questa casa? E’ sua / Whose house is this? It’s hers
Also note that in Italian, the possessive adjectives and pronouns have the same identical form. Italian does not make the difference between “my” and “mine” (mio/a/i/e) or “our” and “ours” (nostro/a/i/e).
For example,
- It’s mine = è mio
- It’s hers = suo
- It’s our = è nostro
- It’s theirs = è loro
February 15, 2021 @ 9:52 pm
I love what you have written: Renaissance soul… I too, am fascinated by the power of words. Excellent!
February 16, 2021 @ 7:13 am
🙂
September 28, 2021 @ 6:30 pm
Thanks so much for this explainer! I’ve just hit the possessives lesson in Duolingo and needed some context in English for the articles, as you wrote in point 5. If I were to say “È la mia!” in that example, would it still be ok, or would it sound weird?
September 29, 2021 @ 7:09 am
It’s totally correct!
Happy Italian learning
S.