possessive adjectives

Giving personal information in Italian – Audio lesson

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LearntoaskandgivepersonalinformationinItalian.Talkaboutwork,relationships,nationality.Understandwhenitisappropriatetuusetheformal”lei”insteadofthefriendly”tu”.Audiolesson. LearningtoaskandgivepersonalinformationinItalianisquiteeasy.Youneedtolearnsomebasicsentencesandvocabulary.Allbasicinformation,asithappensinmanylanguages,isprovidedusingtheimportantverbsessere (tobe)andavere (tohave).Incaseyoudon’tknowthem,hereyoucanseetheir presenteindicativo conjugation.Havealookbeforeproceedingfurther.

  • TuorLei?

  YoucanaddresssomeoneinItalianusingtheinformal”Tu”ortheformal”Lei”.WealreadysaidthatthechoiceofdaredelLei,addressingsomeoneinformally,dependsoncommonsense.Whenyoudon’tknowthepersonyouarearegoingtotalkwith,orwhenthispersonisseniorbyageorstatus,youshoulduseLei. Forexample,”What’syourname”is:

Cometichiami?(Tu)/Comesichiama(Lei?) Michiamo…

Mind,”Lei”inthiscaseisnotsynonymof”she”,butjustaformalwaytoreplace”tu”,you.Whenyouwillknowpeoplewellorwon’tbethecasetousetheformalLei,youwillbeinvitedtoswitchfrom”Lei”to”Tu”.
“Diamocideltu”or”Possiamodarcideltu”

Normally,youngpeoplewillskipthe”lei”andusedirectlytheinformal”tu”.

  • ChièMario?
Whenwetalkaboutourrelationshipwithsomeone,weoftenuseItalianpossessiveadjectives.So,ifItalktoyouabout”Mario”,youmayask:”ChièMario?”

Marioèunmio…(Mariaèunamia…) amico/amica(friend)
collega(colleague)
conoscente(acquaintance)
parente(relative)

  SeMario(Maria)èunparente,ifMarioisarelative,wecandescribeourdegreeofkinship.Inthiscasewehavetoomitthearticle.Wedon’tsay”Marioèil/unmiofratello”.Wesay”Marioèmiofratello”Marioismybrother.Havealookandlistentotheaudiolesson”Lamiafamiglia”,myItalianfamily foracompleteoverview.SomenounsaboutthefamilyinItalian:

Marioèmio…(Mariaèmia…)

Ifyouwanttosay”Ihaveabrother,sisteretc”,inItalianwesay”Ioho/Lui-Leiha- un/una…fratello/sorella/marito/moglieetc.withtheverbAVERE.

  • Didovesei(tu)?Didov’e(lui/lei)?

  InordertoprovidecompletepersonalinformationinItalian,youmustknowyournationality.Peopleusuallywantto knowwhereyoucomefromandwhereyoulive.

Whenweask”Didovesei?”whereareyoufrom,wemeanthenationalityforforeignersandtheregionofItalyorcityoforiginforItalians.JustlikeinEnglish,wehavetwomaingroups:

Iosono…- Lui/Leiè…
  • -ESE(Giapponese,Francese,Inglese-andMilanese)
  • -ANO(Italiano,Americano,Australiano-andRomano).
ThereisnoautomaticcorrespondancebetweenItalianandEnglishnamesofNationality.Forexample,wesayCanadeseandnot”Canadiano”,OlandeseandnotDutch,Tedescoandnot”Germano”.LikealltheotherItalianadjectives,theonesendingin-Edon’tvaryaccordingtothegender,theonesendingin-Ochangewiththegender.Sowesay:

  • IosonoGiapponese,MikeèAmericanoeLucyèAustraliana.

Ifyouwanttonameyourcityoforigin,youcanofcoursedothatsaying:
Sonodi…(Roma,Tokyo,NewYorketc…) Literally,Iamof…Historically,Europeancitiesandsomeothersaroundtheworldhaveanitalianizedname.Forexample:Parigi,Londra,Lisbona,Barcellona,Berna,Vienna,Berlino,Varsavia,Stoccolma,Atene,Belgrado,Dublino,CittàdelMessico,Pechino,NuovaDelhi,CittàdelCapoandmanyothers.WeusedtosayNuovaYork,butit’sobsoletenow.

  • Chelavorofai(tu)-Chelavorofa(Lui/Lei)?

  Nowadays,therearesomanyjobtitlesthatthemattercan’tbeliquidatewiththeusualdoctor/nurse/clerkbasicvocabulary. Wewilldedicateaposttojobsandworking-relatedItalianlanguage.YourjobisofcoursesomethingyouwanttosayorknowaspersonalinformationinItalian.WewillhelpyoutoidentifythenameofyourjobinItalian,justaskinthecomments.Thequestionis:”Chelavorofai?”,Whatisyourjob:

Io Faccioil/la…dottore/dottoressa
Sonoun/una… dentista Lui/Lei Fail/la…dottore/dottoressa
È un/una… dentist

  The”formula”thenis:

 Fareil/lo/la+jobtitle=Essereun/uno/una +jobtitle WeexplainedHOWyoushouldaskorprovidepersonalinformationinItalian.IfyouwanttofindoutWHATandlearnnewwords,pleaseexplorethisblogandfindyouranswers.Ifyouneedsomehelpindescribingyourjob,nationalityorotherinformationinItalian,pleaseleaveacommentandwe’llansweryourquestions.Subscribetoourmailinglistformorearticles!

WithDanteLearningyoucan learnItalianon-line withanativeteacher,studyingatyourownpacefromhome.Savetimeandmoney, subscribeforFREE todayandenjoyafreetriallesson,alevelcheckandaccesstointeractiveexercises.Alllive,one-one-one,invideoconferencewithanativeItalianteacher.ThenyoucandecideifyouwanttojoinusandbepartofourOn-lineItalianLanguageSchool.

 

Aggettivi possessivi, Italian possessive adjectives – Basic guide and quiz

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The Italian Aggettivi Possessivi, are also pronouns –> Pronomi Possessivi

Aggettivi Possessivi indicate the ownership, or close relationship, between the owner and the object they possess. For example, my brother is mio fratello, and my sister is mia sorella. Their termination reflects exactly the gender and number of the object.

 

Singolare Maschile

il mio amico

il tuo amico

il suo amico

il nostro amico

il vostro amico

il loro amico

Singolare Femminile

la mia amica

la tua amica

la sua amica

la nostra amica

la vostra amica

la loro amica

Plurale Maschile

i miei amici

i tuoi amici

i suoi amici

i nostri amici

i vostri amici

i loro amici

Plurale Femminile

le mie amiche

le tue amiche

le sue amiche

le nostre amiche

le vostre amiche

le loro amiche

Let’s take a better look at Aggettivi and Pronomi Possessivi with the sentence below:

  • La mia casa è più grande della tua – My house is bigger than yours.

The first thing we have to notice is the object casa, singular feminine noun.

  • The aggettivo possessivo mia agrees with gender and number with the noun casa.
  • As opposed to English, aggettivi possessivi retain the article, in this case La, which also agrees with casa. In English we can say The house or My house, not “the my house”. In Italian, with some important exceptions, there’s always an article.
  • La mia casa and la tua (casa): the object casa in this comparison is the same, it is not necessary to say it again, hence … della tua (casa), where tua becomes a pronoun as yours in English.

In Italian mio aggettivo possessivo is the same mio pronome possessivo. It does not change. In English you have my and mine and so on. In Italian we don’t.

All the aggettivi possessivi agree in gender and number with the noun they refer to, except loro, which never changes.

In Italian there are no his or her based on he or she. For example:

  • Ho incontrato Giorgio e sua mamma
  • Ho incontrato Stefania e sua mamma

Sua refers to the mother, not to Giorgio (male) or Stefania (female).

We mentioned that in pretty much all the sentences there is a pattern

  • la + mia + casa
  • article + aggettivo possessivo + noun

The rule is overridden when the noun is of a family relative, only singular:

  • mio fratello, tua sorella, suo nonno, mia nonna, sua mamma, tuo papà, mia cugina

but…

  • i miei fratelli, i suoi nonni, i tuoi genitori, i loro cugini.

In case of Loro (their / theirs) we keep the article: —> La loro madre.

I hope this explanation of the Italian aggettivi possessivi helped you.

Please take some time to solve the quiz below about aggettivi possessivi. Feel free to book a Zoom trial class. Ciao.

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Pietro Scoppetta – Ritratto dell’artista Adele Carrà – 1920

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