Possessive Adjectives in Italian
Italian possessive adjectives agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and in number (singular/plural) with the noun they refer to.
The Italian possessive adjectives are preceded by definite articles and agree in gender with the noun possessed, not with the possessor. Examples:
- La mia macchina (f. s.)
- Il tuo gelato (m. pl.)
- Il suo tè (m. s.)
- I nostri gatti (m. pl.)
- La vostra frutta (f. s.)
- Le loro amiche (f. pl.)
MASCULINE S. (il) | MASCULINE PL. (i) |
mio | miei |
tuo | tuoi |
suo | suoi |
nostro | nostri |
vostro | vostri |
loro | loro |
FEMININE S. (la) | FEMININE PL. (le) |
| mia | mie |
| tua | tue |
| sua | sue |
| nostra | nostre |
| vostra | vostre |
| loro | loro |
Don’t be scared of this table – we have good news for you! In English we say his to say something belongs to a man, and hers to say it belongs to a woman.
In Italian there is no such distinction! The adjective remains the same regardless of whether the owner is a male or female. Look:
- His house/ her house = la sua casa
- His dog/ her dog = il suo cane
It does change for the quantity:
- his houses / her houses / its houses = le sue case
- his dogs / her dogs / its dogs = i suoi cani
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