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.

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. Italian possessive adjectives, usually, are preceded by articles. Secondly, while English possessive adjectives refer to the possessor, Italian possessive adjectives agree in gender and number with the thing owned.

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

• 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 help us to understand the difference between Italian and English possessive adjectives. While in English possessive adjectives his and her agree with the possessor, in Italian they agree with the thing owned. This means that possessive adjective sua agree with the word amica. So it will be the same either if the owner is male (Paolo) or female (Barbara).