34 AGGETTIVI POSSESSIVI E DI POSSESSO
possessive
Rossella Pescatori
Learning Objectives
- In this section, you will learn how to express possession.
STUDIAMO !
There are several ways to talk about ownership and possession in Italian:
(a) The first way is to use the preposition di to express possession or association, as follows:
il fratello di Michele (the brother of Michele)
We use this structure less frequently in English and may sound awkward or archaic (see examples below). In Italian, however, it is used all the time and sounds normal:
the friend of John (L’amico di John)
the house of Janet (La casa di Janet)
the king of the mountain (Il re della montagna)
In this context, di roughly translates to the English –‘s (as in John’s car).
il fratello di Michele (Michele’s brother)
il vicino del signor Rastier (Mr. Rastier’s neighbor)
le opere di Maupassant (Maupassant’s works)
When the preposition di is followed by the definite articles il and i, lo, la, le, they contract to del, dei, dello, della, degli respectively:
di+ il➔ del
i libri del professore(= The books of the professor = The professor’s books)
(b) Another way to show possession is with possessive adjectives (gli aggettivi possessivi).
| Maschile singolare | Femminile singolare | Maschile Plurale | Femminile Plurale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Possessive adjectives are placed before a noun to express ownership or possession of something.
È il mio libro. (It’s my book.)
È la tua classe. (It’s your class.)
You can also express associations and relationships with possessive adjectives, and remember with singular family member no article in front:
È mio zio (It’s my uncle.)
Sono i miei cousins. (They are my cousins.)
È il vostro professore ? (Is that your teacher?)
In English possessive adjective agrees with the subject (his sister, her brother). But in Italia, possessive adjectives act like all other adjectives: they must agree with the noun they modify.
| Masculine noun : il fratello | Feminine noun : la sorella |
|---|---|
| il fratello di Marco ➔ suo fratello (Marc’s brother ➔ his brother) | la sorella di Marco ➔ sua sorella (Marc’s sister ➔ his sister) |
| i fratelli di Marco ➔ i suoi fratelli (Marc’s brothers ➔ his brothers) | le sorelle di Marco ➔ le sue sorelle (Marc’s sisters ➔ his sisters) |
| il fratello di Maria ➔ suo fratello (Marie’s brother ➔ her brother) | la sorella di Maria ➔ sua sorella (Marie’s sister ➔ her sister) |
| i fratelli di Maria ➔ i suoi fratelli (Marrie’s brothers ➔ her brothers) | le sorelle di Maria ➔ le sue sorelle (Marie’s sisters ➔ her sisters) |
(i) Possessive adjectives are always placed before the nouns they modify, just like in English:
mio zio (my uncle)
la nostra (our family)
(ii) The choice of suo, sua, suoi, sue depends on the gender and number of the nouns possessed, not the gender and number of the possessor or owner.
suo fratello (his, her brother)
sua sorella (his, her sister)
i suoi genitori (his, her parents)
Context will clarify who the possessor or owner is. For example, il suo means two different things in the following sentences:
Sì, lei ha il suo libro. (Yes, she has her book.)
No, lui non hai il suo libro. (No, he doesn’t have his book.)
