ItalianAdjectives, Pronouns Possessives are words and phrases that are used to express relationships of ownership and belonging. They come in two main types:
Possessive adjectives (words like “my,” “your,” or “their”) precede a noun. In Italian they look like this: il mio, il tuo, il suo...
Unlike English possessive adjectives, Italian possessive adjectives need the article!
Possessive pronouns (words like “mine,” “yours,” “his/hers”) replace a noun. Luckily, in Italian, they look exactly like the possessive adjectives: il mio, il tuo, il suo... Here is how to recognize which is which:
noun
La sua bici è blu ma la sua è rossa.
His bike is blue, but hers is red.
La sua and la sua look the same, but the first la sua is followed by a noun (bici), while the second is not. So we know the first is a possessive adjective, while the second is a possessive pronoun. It becomes a pronoun when the noun disappears!
Let’s have a closer look at how to use Italian possessives!
How to choose the right form for an Italian possessive?
To pick the right form of an Italian possessive you will need two pieces of information:
Who is the owner?
Here you need to know the you’d use for the owner.
What is owned?
Here you need to know the (masculine/feminine) and (singular/plural) of the thing that is owned.
With those two pieces of information, you can use the table below to choose the right form. You’ll find some special notes below on the highlighted boxes:
| Gender + number of owned thing | |
| | | |
io | il mio | la mia | i miei | le mie | |
tu | il tuo | la tua | i tuoi | le tue | |
luilei | il suo | la sua | i suoi | le sue | |
Lei | il Suo | la Sua | i Suoi | le Sue | |
noi | il nostro | la nostra | i nostri | le nostre | |
voi | il vostro | la vostra | i vostri | le vostre | |
loro | il loro | la loro | i loro | le loro | |
You can see that it’s more complicated than English!
If in English only the “owner” matters, but in Italian the owned thing matters too! Often there’s one translation for two different Italian possessives:
Did you notice…?
In Italian there is no difference between “his” and “her.” That’s because il suo, la sua, i suoi, and le sue change only according to “what is owned.”
Il suo treno arriva presto.
His/her train is coming soon.
It doesn’t matter if it’s Maria’s train or Mario’s train, il suo stays the same because treno is masculine singular.
Loro does not change to agree with the owned thing.
Il loro garage è spazioso.
Their garage is spacious.
Since loro always stays the same, all you need to make sure agrees with is the article. This is why before garage (masculine and singular) the article is be il.
Do you need an article before a possessive in Italian?
Yes! Possessives in Italian need to be preceded by , whether they’re possessive adjectives or possessive pronouns. Most often, possessive adjectives and pronouns are introduced by a definite article (il, lo, la, le...), which takes the gender and number of the noun.
Il tuo motorino è nuovo, il suo è vecchio.
Your scooter is new, his/hers is old.
However, if you’re talking about “one of many” things that someone owns, you can use an indefinite article (un, una, uno, etc.). But you can’t do this with possessive pronouns, only possessive adjectives:
Un suo caro amico è meccanico.
A dear friend of his is a mechanic.
Remember that the exact form of the article in Italian depends partly on the first letter(s) of the word that comes immediately after it. When the noun has a possessive, the possessive adjective and not the noun will come right after the article.
This means that the exact form of the definite article you use before a possessive will not always match the definite article that you use directly before the noun. Compare:
il suo stereo / i suoi stereo
However, the gender and number of the definite article will still always match the gender and number of the owned noun!
There are also a few exceptional cases, where no article is needed before the possessive at all. Let’s have a look at these cases a little more closely.
When can you leave out an article before an Italian possessive?
There are a few cases where Italian possessives do not come immediately after a definite article:
If someone asks the question Di chi è... ?(Who does it belong to?), the answer does not require the article.
Whose motorcycle is this?
È mia / è tua / è sua / è nostra / è vostra…
It’s mine / it’s yours / it’s his/hers / it’s ours / it’s yours
You still need the article before loro:
When emphasizing that something belongs to someone and no one else, you move the possessive to the end.
There are some common phrases where the possessive is at the end. These do also do not require an article.
at my/your/his (her) house
It’s my/his (her) etc. fault
If you’re talking about your family members, you can often leave out the definite article before a possessive adjective.
Mia zia guida il trattore.
My aunt drives the tractor.
In the following cases, the definite article is still required:
The family member is described by another adjective:
adjectives
La mia zia intraprendente guida il trattore.
My resourceful aunt drives a tractor.
You’re using a plural noun for the family members:
Le mie zie fanno una crociera.
My aunts are on a cruise.
Since genitori(parents) is plural, you’ll always use the definite article here:
I miei genitori prendono il treno ogni mattina.
My parents take the train every morning.
However, you’ll still need the definite article before a possessive pronoun, even when you’re talking about family members:
Mio zio ha una Fiat 500 , il tuo ha una Ferrari.
My uncle has a Fiat 500, yours has a Ferrari.
In Italy, there is a short way to say for i miei genitori(my parents): i miei. We also say i tuoi(your parents) and i suoi(his/her parents).
I miei/i tuoi/i suoi non hanno la patente.
My/your/his/her parents don’t have a driver’s license.
However, we don’t use the plural forms, i nostri, i vostri, i loro, to talk about parents. Here you’ll need to use the full form:
I miei genitori prendono il treno ogni mattina.
My parents take the train every morning.
Mind the comparisons
Use possessive adjectives and pronouns when drawing comparisons in Italian:
La nostra moto è più/meno veloce della vostra.
Our motorbike is faster/less fast than yours.
Instead of the article, you will need the articulated preposition di+ definite article (della, dello, dei, etc.) to express comparisons.
In summary
Remember:
Italian possessive adjectives and pronouns look similar but have different functions;
Possessives often come with an article;
Figure out “the owner” + gender and number of “what’s owned”;
Family members behave weirdly :)
Last thing, there are cases when you do not need to use the possessive adjectives! You can read about it in our post on when to use articles in Italian.
One more thing: instead of the possessive adjectives, you can use the words proprio and altrui. Read this post to find out when.
Now, click the link to master the possessives in Italian! 💪🧠
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