This post is in response to questions asked by Dark Spirit in another forum.

Possessive adjectives refer to the following:

My = il mio/la mia/i miei /le mie
Your (talking to one person) = il tuo/la tua/i tuoi/le tue
his = il suo/la sua/i suoi/le sue
her = il suo/la sua/i suoi/le sue
our = il nosotro/la nostra/i nostri/le nostre
your (talking to more than one person) = il vostro/la vostra/i vostri/le vostre
their = il loro/la loro/i loro/le loro

In Italian the possessive adjectives are a bit more complicated than they are in English. As you can see above in the chart, there are actually four ways to say each possessive adjective!! How do I know which one of the four to pick? You determine which one to pick based on the number and gender of the noun that is being owned. It has nothing to do with the person who owns the object!!! Let's try some examples:

My house

Well lets look at the four ways to say "my"

il mio (masculine singular)
la mia (feminine singular)
i miei (masculine plural)
le mie (feminine plural)

We have to determine which of the four we are going to pick. Now the word for house is casa. Casa is a feminine word and there is only one house. Therefore, we will pick the feminine singular form of "my" (see above) which is la mia.....my house = la mia casa

my houses

The word for houses is case. Case is feminine plural so I will pick the feminine plural form of "my" which is le mie......my houses = le mie case.

my book

The word for book is libro which is masculine singular. I pick the masculine singular form of "my" which is il mio......il mio libro = my book.

my books

The word for books is libri which is masculine plural. I pick the masculine plural of "my" which is i miei.......i miei libri = my books.

Always remember that adjectives must agree in number and gender with the noun they modify.

See if you can translate these short phrases:

his telephone =

our books =

their car =

my telephones =

your (talking to one person) cars =

Write the answers in another post and I will correct them for you.

__________________
Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.

his telephone = il suo telefono

our books = i nostri libri

their car = il loro automobile

my telephones = i miei telefoni

your (talking to one person) cars = i tuoi automobili

Right on Joseph!!! For "their car" you could also say "la loro macchina"

For "your cars" you could also say "le tue macchine"

__________________
Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.

Complimenti Giacomo.

How about doing a thread on Indirect object pronouns?

SINGULAR ------------------------------------------PLURAL
mi (to/for) me --------------------------------------ci (to/for) us
ti (to/for) you --------------------------------------vi (to/for) you
Le (to/for) you (formal m. and f.) --------------------Loro (to/for) you (form., m. and f.)
gli (to/for) him --------------------------------------loro (to/for) them
le (to/for) her

Indirect object pronouns, like direct object pronouns, precede a conjugated verb, except for loro and Loro, which follow the verb.

Le ho dato tre ricette. (I gave her three recipes.)
Ci offrono un caffè. (They offer us a cup of coffee.)
Parliamo loro domani. (We’ll talk to them tomorrow.)
Che cosa regali allo zio Giovanni? (What are you giving Uncle John?)
Gli regalo un libro di cucina. (I'll give him a cookbook.)

Indirect object pronouns are attached to an infinitive, and the –e of the infinitive is dropped.

Non ho tempo di parlargli. (I have no time to talk to him.)

If the infinitive is preceded by a form of dovere, potere, or volere, the indirect object pronoun is either attached to the infinitive (after the –e is dropped or placed before the conjugated verb).

Voglio parlargli. Gli voglio parlare. I want to talk to him.

Le and gli never elide before a verb beginning with a vowel or an h.

Le offro un caffè (I offer her a cup of coffee.)
Gli hanno detto «Ciao!» (They said "Ciao!" to him.)

The following common Italian verbs are used with indirect object nouns or pronouns.

dare to give
dire to say
domandare to ask
(im)prestare to lend
insegnare to teach
mandare to send
mostrare to show
offrire to offer
portare to bring
preparare to prepare
regalare to give (as a gift)
rendere to return, give back
riportare to bring back
scrivere to write
telefonare to telephone

People even Spanish speakers get thrown off when they see gli, ci and vi.

Ho chiesto loro di venire con noi. I asked them to come with us.
Gli ho chiesto di veniere con noi. I asked them to come with us.

Do il libro nuovo a Maria. I give the new book to Maria.
Le do il libro nuovo. I give her the new book.

Gli mando un regalo. Mando un regalo (al bambino).

Grazie Villa!

Indirect objects do two things in a sentence:

1. They indirectly receive the action of the verb.

2. Most importantly they tell us "to whom" or "for whom" the action is
performed.

Here are some examples:

The boy threw the baseball to his brother.

Ask yourself: to whom did the boy throw the baseball? He threw it to his brother. His brother is the indirect object.

I wrote Maria a letter.

Maria is the indirect object. To whom did I write a letter? Maria.

Villa bought Paolo a new motorcycle. Paolo is the indirect object. For whom did Villa buy the motorcycle? Paolo

OK..........

Now that we know what an indirect object is we can now learn what an indirect object pronoun is!

An indirect object pronoun simply takes the place of an indirect object in a sentence.

Villa bought Paolo a new motorcycle.

As we learned before Paolo is the indirect object. The indirect object pronoun "him" will now replace Paolo (Sorry Paolo)

Villa bought Paolo a new motorcycle. ---> Villa bought him a new motorcycle.

I wrote maria a letter ---> I wrote her a letter

Now as Villa said, In Italian the pronoun must go before the conjugated verb! We don't say I wrote her a letter...we actually say I her wrote a letter. We don't say Villa bought him a motorcycle. We say Villa him bought a motorcycle.

Here are the indirect object pronouns in Italian (Thank you Villa)

SINGULAR ------------------------------------------PLURAL
mi (to/for) me --------------------------------------ci (to/for) us
ti (to/for) you --------------------------------------vi (to/for) you
Le (to/for) you (formal m. and f.) --------------------Loro (to/for) you (form., m. and f.)
gli (to/for) him --------------------------------------loro (to/for) them
le (to/for) her

Now let's try some examples in Italian!

Io do $1 alla mia amica. (I give a dollar to my friend.)

My friend tells us to whom the dollar was given so "la mia amica" is the indirect object. We can replace "la mia amica" with "le" which means to her or for her. Now let's rewrite our sentence.

Io do $1 alla mia amica.

la mia amica is the indirect object so I am going to discard it and replace it with the pronoun "le"

Io do $1 alla mia amica ---> Io do $1 (notice that la mia amica is now gone it will be replaced with le) ---> io le do $1. = I give her a dollar.

Lei compra una macchina per me

Per me is the indirect object. It tells us for whom the car is bought. It will be replaced with the pronoun "mi" = for me. Now, Per me will disappear.

Lei compra una macchina per me ---> Lei compra una macchina ---> Lei mi compra una macchina.

__________________
Dimmi con chi vai e ti dirò chi sei.