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Mamma Mia! Posted by on Nov 22, 2008 in Grammar

Today I’ll try to shed a bit of light on the use of the aggettivi possessivi (possessive adjectives). Lets first have a quick look at them:

 

My = mio, mia, miei, mie

Your (sing.) = tuo, tua, tuoi, tue

His/her/its/Your (polite)  = suo, sua, suoi, sue

Our = nostro, nostra, nostri, nostre

Your (plur.) = vostro, vostra, vostri, vostre

Their = loro

 

As you can see from the above list, with the exception of loro (their) which doesn’t change, all the other possessive adjectives have four different endings: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural and feminine plural. The possessive adjectives agree with the object or person they describe, not with the owner. For example, I’m a woman and I’ll say: il mio libro (my book) and la mia penna (my pen). My brother will say exactly the same: il mio libro, la mia penna.

 

More confusing for English speakers is the use of his/her/its because we don’t specify whether the “owner” is a he or a she or an it, but again the choice of the ending depends on the object. So, if I’m talking about Bruno, I’ll say il suo libro and la sua penna. The same applies if I’m talking about Laura: il suo libro, la sua penna. Usually the meaning of suo, sua, suoi, sue is clear from the context; if not, it’s better to specify the owner: il libro di Bruno, la penna di Laura, etc.

 

You might have noticed that in all the examples I’ve used the definite article (il, lo, la, i, gli, le). But there is an exception to this rule! If a singular family member is described, then we drop the article: mio padre (my father), nostra madre (our mother). However, if there is a second adjective, a suffix or a prefix that modifies the noun, the article comes back again: la mia nonna materna (my maternal grandmother), la mia sorellina (my little sister), and la mia bisnonna (my great grandmother). Mamma (mum), papà or babbo (dad) are considered to be affectionate forms and are used with or without the article: mia mamma or la mia mamma. Of course the form that foreigners are most familiar with is MAMMA MIA! (lit. My Mother!) which is used on its own as an exclamation and can be translated as something like Goodness Gracious!

N.B. Loro always takes the definite article: la loro figlia (their daughter).

 

Finally, in the plural the article is always used: i miei genitori (my parents), le sue figlie (his/her daughters).

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Comments:

  1. susan:

    Ciao Lisa- I thoroughly enjoy your blog- Grazie … 🙂

  2. Larry Aiello:

    Ciao Lisa,
    Great blog!! E’ molto utile. I enjoy it very much.
    Thanks

  3. natasha:

    Hey guys, who is Lisa:)? The author’s name is Serena.

  4. Serena:

    Grazie Natasha, I was wondering who Lisa was!

  5. Frank:

    I love the Italian language as it flows so easily when you hear or speak it. I look forward to receiving the Italian Blog. Molte grazie.

  6. Marco Perucci:

    Serena,

    Grazie tante! Il tuo blog è meraviglioso… mi rimango sempre affascinato quando lo lego – è sempre molto interessante!

    Auguri

    Marco…

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  9. Alexander:

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  10. Traian Metaxa:

    In Romania, l’espressione: Mamma Mia viene utilizzato nei seguenti casi:
    di stupore
    a volte sei sorpreso da qualcosa di inaspettato
    quando accade qualcosa sorprendentemente
    quando accade un incidente
    con ammirazione
    quando sei deluzionat

  11. Randy Hunt:

    That disappearing/reappearing article on family members was really starting to confuse me. It’s nice to finally see it definitively explained.


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