Possessive adjectives and pronouns: Italian grammar lesson 29

What are possessive adjectives in Italian?

The term possessive adjectives (aggettivi possessivi in Italian) might sound scary, but all we’re talking about is how to say, “my”, “your”, “her/his/its”, “our” and “their”, as in the examples below:

• Her jacket is so cool!
• Our friend is not coming.

Whether you’re learning Italian the old school way of learning Italian online with the rest of us, the Italian possessive adjectives are of utmost importance to know.

Unless you’re planning to just not refer to people and their possessions at all, you’re going to need the possessive adjectives in your Italian repertoire.

While this table may look scary and unapproachable, with a little bit of effort, it won’t be long before you have it down!

To use Italian possessive adjectives correctly they need to coincide properly with gender (masculine/feminine) and in number (singular/plural) with the noun they refer to.

For instance, “hat” is masculine so it uses the masculine mio and miei.

Legs, on the other hand, are feminine.

So when we’re talking about your leg or legs, we use the feminine versions, mia and mie.

When to use possessive adjectives in Italian

We use possessive adjectives to talk about possession or ownership.

In Italian, possessive adjectives, like all other kinds of adjectives, must agree in gender and number with the noun possessed and not with the possessor, like in English.

It’s the same in Italian:

Possessive adjectives in Italian

Here is a table of all the Italian possessive adjectives:

How to use possessive adjectives in Italian

As you have probably noticed in the examples above, possessive adjectives are almost always used with a definite article (il, la, lo, i, gli, le).

Of course, there are always some exceptions.

We do not use an article when talking about a blood relative in the singular:

Mio fratello è uscito.

My brother went out.

Mi ha chiamato mia mamma.

My mom called me.

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Sua cugina abita a Roma.

Her cousin lives in Rome.

Nostro padre lavora in posta.

Our father works at the post office.

What are possessive pronouns?

Now that you know the possessive adjectives in Italian, we can start talking about possessive pronouns, the equivalent in English to “mine”, “yours”, “his/hers/its”, “ours”, “yours” and “theirs”, like in the examples below:

• This is mine!
• I lost my phone, can you lend me yours?

And here we have some good news for you: if they are easy enough in English, they are even easier in Italian… They are exactly the same as the possessive adjectives!

When to use possessive pronouns

We use possessive pronouns to replace a noun so that we do not repeat it in a sentence.

You’ll understand better with examples:

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