22
Possessives, continued from Unit 3
The complete list of possessives is as follows:
| Masculine
Singular |
Masculine
Plural |
Feminine
Singular |
Feminine
Plural |
Meanings |
| il mio | i miei | la mia | le mie | my, mine |
| il tuo | i tuoi | la tua | le tue | your, yours (familiar) |
| il suo | i suoi | la sua | le sue | his, her, hers, its |
| il Suo | i Suoi | la Sua | le Sue | your, yours (polite) |
| il nostro | i nostri | la nostra | le nostre | our, ours |
| il Vostro | i vostri | la vostra | le vostre | your, yours (familiar) |
| il loro | i loro | la loro | le loro | their, theirs |
| il Loro | i Loro | la Loro | le Loro | your, yours (polite) |
The possessives listed above may be used either as adjectives or as pronouns.
Roberto cerca il suo cappello e il mio. — Robert is looking for his hat and mine.
The definite article is part of the possessive, but it is sometimes omitted with certain singular, unmodified nouns denoting close relationship. The translation and meaning is the same.
il mio cappello or il cappello mio — my hat
le sue opere or le opere sue — his works
mio padre, mia sorella — my father, my sister
The definite article of the possessive combines with prepositions in the same way as has already been discussed (see section on contractions in Unit 3).
nei miei libri — in my books
VOCABULARY
| debolezza weakness |
essere (m.) being |
età age; ages |
fanciullo child |
| genitori (m. pl.) parents |
indirizzato directed |
noia boredom |
piacere (m.) pleasure |
| saper [=sapere] to know, to know how to |
senza without |
vizio vice |