The possessive adjectives in Italian have a masculine and a feminine form, in the singular and in the plural:
In the masculine singular:
MIO MY
TUO YOUR
SUO HIS/HER
NOSTRO OUR
VOSTRO YOUR
LORO THEIR
In the feminine singular:
MIA MY
TUA YOUR
SUA HIS/HER
NOSTRA OUR
VOSTRA YOUR
LORO THEIR
Before masculine nouns we use masculine adjectives and before feminine nouns we use feminine adjectives, so for example we say:
IL MIO LETTO (my bed)
IL TUO CELLULARE (your mobile phone)
In the masculine plural:
MIEI MY
TUOI YOUR
SUOI HIS/HER
NOSTRI OUR
VOSTRI YOUR
LORO THEIR
In the feminine plural:
MIE MY
TUE YOUR
SUE HIS/HER
NOSTRE OUR
VOSTRE YOUR
LORO THEIR
For example:
I SUOI AMICI (his/her friends)
I VOSTRI VICINI (your neighbours)
LE VOSTRE CANZONI (your songs)
LE LORO SCARPE (their shoes)
Note that, unlike in English, in Italian the 3rd person pronoun doesn’t specify whether the owner is a male or a female, so that LA SUA AUTO
The possessive adjective is generally preceeded by an article (definite or indefinite), for example:
UNA MIA AMICA (a friend of mine)
PS. LORO is always invariabile
EXCEPTION:
An exception to this rule is with nouns referring to family members.
We don’t put the article before terms like padre, madre, zia, sorella, fratello, cugino…
So we never say *LA MIA SORELLA , but MIA SORELLA, and not *IL MIO ZIO, but MIO ZIO.
So we never say *
However, with MAMMA and PAPÀ you can either use the article or not, so it’s acceptable to say LA MIA MAMMA
Before LORO you must always have an article at any time, so you have to say: LA LORO CUGINA , I LORO NONNI, LE LORO FIGLIE.
If there’s another adjective that specifies some further information about the family member, the article is always accepted, so for example you cannot say: *IL MIO MARITO, but you can say IL MIO EX MARITO.
Or you cannot say *IL MIO FRATELLO, but you can say IL MIO FRATELLO PIÚ GRANDE (my youngest brother).
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