Possessive adjectives and pronouns used as objects or copulas

Pronouns and adjectives do not change inflection when they are used as an object or as a copula (i.e. when they follow verb to be, thus indicating a condition of property or possession). What may change is the use of an article before the pronoun. It is more easy to discuss the two cases separately.

USED AS OBJECTS

Either used before a noun (adjective) or alone (pronoun) as direct objects, they always require an article:

leggo il mio giornale = I read my newspaper (adjective) leggo il mio = I read mine (pronoun) comprammo i loro libri = we bought their books comprammo i loro = we bought theirs prenderò le sue carte = I will take his/her cards prenderò le sue = I will take his/hers

When the object is a family person (in singular form), the article is required only for pronouns (not for adjectives, as explained above):

vedo tua madre e la sua = I see your mother (adjective) and his/hers (pronoun) incontrò tuo fratello, e poi incontrò il mio = he/she met your brother, and then he/she met mine tuo padre è alto, il nostro è basso = your father is tall, ours is short

USED AS COPULAS

When used as the copula's adjective (i.e. they are followed by a noun), they behave exactly as above, requiring an article:

è il mio libro = it is my book era la sua scuola = it was his/her school saranno le vostre insegnanti = they will be your teachers (femin.) è mio zio = he is my uncle è sua nipote = she is his/her niece sono i miei nonni = they are my grand-parents

When used after the verb essere (to be) as an actual copula, they describe a state of possession as if it was a quality of the object, and therefore the article is not required:

il libro è mio = the book is mine la casa era loro = the house was theirs il cane sarà tuo = the dog will be yours

Nevertheless, a similar form which requires an article does exist, with a rather specific meaning. Focus the following example:

il libro è mio = the book is mine il libro è il mio = the book is mine

In the second sentence, where mio has an article, the actual meaning is "the book is the one belonging to me", and mio acts both as an adjective and a pronoun, at the same time. This form is used to indicate the possessed object among others of similar nature. While the standard form puts the stress on the owner of the object, the latter form stresses which of the objects among the present ones are possessed:

la casa piccola è mia = the small house is mine (meaning "the small house belongs to me") la casa piccola è la mia = the small house (among other houses) is mine (meaning "among the other houses, I own the small one") il cane con il collare bianco è tuo = the dog with the white collar is yours il cane con il collare bianco è il tuo = the dog with the white collar (among others) is yours le foto sul tavolo sono sue = the pictures on the table are his le foto sul tavolo sono le sue = the pictures on the table (among others) are his

(notice that foto is feminine, despite the -o inflection, because it is the shortened form of the original word fotografia = photograph (and foto is therefore either singular or plural, see also paragraph 2.3, "foreign truncated and shortened nouns"). This form is not compulsory, but it is very commonly used.

5.4 INTERROGATIVE AND NEGATIVE FORMS

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Interrogative and negative forms are much more simple in Italian than they are in English.