Italian possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives (aggettivi possessivi) are used to express possession; they tell us whom an object, a person or an animal belong to. They correspond to the English my, your, his, her, its, our, your and their.

Here are some examples.

• Il mio libro (My book) – I miei libri (My books)
• La mia penna (My pen) – Le mie penne (My pens)

As you can notice, there are some differences between English and Italian possessive adjectives. The first difference is the use of the article. Usually Italian possessive adjectives are preceded by articles. Another difference is their agreement. Whereas English possessive adjectives refer to the possessor, in Italian they agree in gender and number with the thing owned.

Here are Italian possessive adjectives we can use with masculine nouns singular and plural and with feminine nouns singular and plural.

Maschili Singolari	Maschili Plurali	Femminili Singolari	Femminili Plurali
MIO	MIEI	MIA	MIE
TUO	TUOI	TUA	TUE
SUO	SUOI	SUA	SUE
NOSTRO	NOSTRI	NOSTRA	NOSTRE
VOSTRO	VOSTRI	VOSTRA	VOSTRE
LORO	LORO	LORO	LORO

• I nostri amici arrivano domani. (Our friends arrive tomorrow)
• Il vostro appartamento è davvero bello. (Your flat is really beautiful)
• Paolo è uscito con la sua amica Anna. (Paolo went out with his friend Anna)
• Barbara è uscita con la sua amica Laura. (Barbara went out with her friend Laura)

The last two sentences can help us to understand the difference between Italian and English possessive adjectives. While in English the possessive adjectives his and her agree with the possessor, in Italian they agree with the thing owned. The possessive adjective “SUA” agree with the word “amica”. So it will be the same either if the owner is a male (Paolo) or a female (Barbara).