What’s “my own” in Italian?
Unlike English, in Italian we have a specific word to say one’s own, and this word is proprio. Proprio is an adjective, and like all adjectives, it agrees in gender and number with the noun it refers to, as you can see below:
Ognuno ha i propri problemi.
Everyone has their own problems.
Sandra ha lavato la propria macchina ieri.
Sandra washed her own car yesterday.
How to use the Italian “Proprio” with the Meaning of “my own”?
Third Person Possessive Adjectives
The Italian proprio is mainly used to disambiguate possible misunderstanding when using third person possessive adjectives.
In fact, it can be used in the third person, both singular and plural, to replace the possessive adjectives suo, sua, suoi, sue (his or her) and loro (their).
This happens because, unlike English, Italian does not distinguish the form of third-person possessive adjectives depending on the gender of the owner, but rather depending on the gender of the item that someone owns.
As a consequence, when saying something like Martina ha perso la sua sciarpa you might translate it as both “Martina lost her own scarf” and “Martina lost someone else’s scarf”.
Have a look at the examples below:
Mario ama il proprio lavoro. – Mario ama il suo lavoro.
Mario loves his own job.
Rimetti i libri al proprio posto. – Rimetti i libri al loro posto.
Put the books back in their (own) place.
Impersonal Constructions
Proprio can also be used as a possessive adjective with impersonal constructions. In this case, it literally means one’s own, since impersonal constructions do not exhibit a logical subject.
Si sta sempre bene a casa propria.
One always feels good at one’s own house.
È importante ricordarsi delle proprie radici.
It is important to remember one’s own roots.
Bisogna sempre dare la priorità al proprio benessere.
One must always prioritize one’s own well-being.
As you have probably noticed, the word proprio is preceded by a definite article when it is used as an adjective, while it requires no article when it is used as an adverb.
Other Meanings of Proprio
In Italian, proprio doesn’t only mean “one’s own”, but can also be used as an adverb, meaning “really“, “just“, or “exactly“, depending on the context.
Learn more about the various meanings of proprio in Italian.
