Italian’s possessive construction
 |
|
| Share / Tweet / Pin Me! | |
In English, we use ‘s (apostrophe s) to indicate that one noun possesses another. The Italian equivalent is the preposition di, with the order of the nouns reversed.
Per esempio…
| la lettera di Roberto | Roberto’s letter | |
| i caffè d’Italia | Italy’s cafés |
Literally, "the letter of Roberto" and "the cafés of Italy.”
When the owner is not a proper name, it must be preceded by a modifier, such as an article, possessive adjective, or demonstrative adjective.
Per esempio…
| il lavoro dell’ingegnere | the engineer’s work | |
| le auto della mia famiglia | my family’s cars | |
| la lettera di questa ragazza | this girl’s letter |
When the owner is plural, as signified by s’ (s apostrophe) in English, the Italian modifier must be plural.
Per esempio…
| la lettera di queste ragazze | these girls’ letter | |
| le auto dei miei figli | my kids’ cars |
As always, di must contract with definite articles.
| i caffé del paese | the country’s cafés | |
| il lavoro degli ingegneri | the engineers’ work |
The possessive di construction is also equivalent to a descriptive noun plus noun in English.
Per esempio…
| le chiavi della macchina | car keys | |
| un libro di storia | history book | |
| succo d’arancia | orange juice |
Italian is sometimes more precise thanks to this construction, as it makes a distinction that is missing in English.
| il libro di italiano (Italian grammar book) |
vs | il libro italiano (book written in Italian) |
Italian book | |
| succo d’arancia (juice from oranges) |
vs | succo arancione (orange-colored juice) |
orange juice |
Related lessons
En español
En français
In English
Share / Tweet / Pin Me!
Ciao! I’m Laura K Lawless, creator, writer, editor, and CLO (Chief Lawless Officer) of this free online Italian learning site. Lawless Italian is an official Lawless Languages site.
