Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives in Italian

(or how to talk about what’s yours)

Remember Smeagol from Lord of the Rings?

How could you forget him, right?

He’s also carrying on saying “MY PRECIOUS! IT’S MINE!” with his endearingly creepy face and raspy Smeagol voice.

The clip above, which you can watch here on Youtube, is all in Italian and is the PERFECT example for how possessive adjectives and pronouns work.

They’re pretty simple as there isn’t a basketful of rules for irregularities, so yay for accommodating grammar!

When to use them

• To show ownership

• To show a relationship

Here’s what they look like

Singular

• MINE

Masculine - il mio
Feminine - la mia

Il mio melo - My apple tree
La mia famiglia - My family

• YOURS

Masculine - il tuo
Feminine - la tua

Il tuo libro - Your book
La tua borsa - Your purse

• HIS/HERS/ITS

Masculine - il suo
Feminine - la sua

il suo piatto - Her plate
la sua email - His email

• OURS

Masculine - il nostro
Feminine - la nostra

il nostro cane - Our dog
la nostra felicità - Our happiness

• YOURS

Masculine - il vostro
Feminine - la vostra

il vostro giardino - Your garden
la vostra macchina - Your car

• THEIRS

Masculine - il loro
Feminine - la loro

il loro ufficio - Their office
la loro camera - Their room

Cocktail party fact: When you want to say ‘to my house,’ you WOULD NOT say ‘a mia casa’, but ‘a casa mia.’ You could do this with all of the others except for 'nostro.'

Plural

• Masculine - i miei

• Feminine - le mie

i miei amici - My friends
le mie amiche - My friends

• Masculine - i tuoi

• Feminine - le tue

i tuoi libri - Your books
le tue borse - Your purses

• Masculine - i suoi

• Feminine - le sue

i suoi piatti - Her plates
le sue email - His emails

• Masculine - i vostri

• Feminine - le vostre

i vostri giardini - your gardens
le vostre sorelle - your sisters

• Masculine - i nostri

• Feminine - le nostre

i nostri cani - Our dogs

le nostre macchine - Our cars

• Masculine - i loro

• Feminine - le loro

i loro zii - Their uncles
le loro camere - Their rooms

---

How to use them in conversation