Learn Italian Possessive Adjectives

Watch the video to learn about the Italian possessive adjectives!

You can also find a fun exercise at the end of the video and a nice FREE downloadable flashcard with all the adjectives! Click here for the free download!

Here is a list of the possessive adjectives:

Singular masculine form:

• Il mio
• il tuo
• il suo
• il nostro
• il vostro
• il loro

Plural masculine form:

• i mei
• i tuoi
• i suoi
• i nostri
• i vostri
• i loro

Now… the femminine options are these:

Singular femminine form:

• la mia
• la tua
• la sua
• la nostra
• la vostra
• la loro

and the plural form is

• le mie
• le tue
• le sue
• le nostre
• le vostre
• le loro

You do need to remember a SUPER important rule that deals with possessive adjectives and the article that you see in front of them.

The rule is that when the possessive adjective is indicating a relationship (and by relationship I mean a family noun… like mamma, nonno, zio, sorella etc…) 

in this case you will NOT use an article when it is in the SINGULAR 

let’s look at the examples:

• Mio zio si chiama Roberto (zio is a family noun and it is in the singular form)

If you change it to plural.. you keep the article:

• I miei zii si chiamano Roberto e Mario (plural)

Another example:

• Suo nipote si chiama Gianni (singular family noun) 
• I suoi nipoti si chiamano Connor e Alex (plural family noun) 

BE AWARE THAT you have a BIG important exception here… the exception is with LORO when you have LORO you keep the article:

Look at these sentences

• La loro zia si chiama Elena 

(In this case ZIA is singular and it is a family noun that means AUNT… you can keep the article LA LORO so the sentence is  La loro zia si chiama Elena).

• Le loro zie si chiamano Elena e Anna (plural family noun… with LORO)

(In this case ZIE is plural and it is a family noun that means AUNTS… you can keep the article LA LORO so the sentence is Le loro zie si chiamano Elena e Anna).

I know that the exceptions are not always easy to remember but trust me the more you speak and listen to Italian the easier they will become… and they will no longer sound like exceptions to you!

Find the free downloadable chart here!