Well, fianlly Jery got what he deserved :P

Poveri gatti! Un piccolo topo non è abbastanza cibo per più di un gatto.

And over and over again! (as Present Simple is used for habitual action)

Ok, so what is the plural for mouse? I thought that "cats" would eat "the mice"

In more complex sentences, there may be another clue as to the gender, but without context (for example, this sentence in the exercise) there is no way to know. I think the "translation" here reverts to the masculine form as we often do in English, but "Her cats eat the mouse" is also a correct translation. The third person singular as "you", in my experience, is used as the polite form more in addressing strangers e.g. when greeting them, asking directions, conducting business, etc. rather than in a sentence like this one.

Suo, sua, suoi etc always adjust their shape to the object. Gatti in this case. Not to the subject.

From looking at "suo, sua or suoi" we can not know whether the subject is female, male or plural femal/male.

Well, that's just a difference of English and Italian. An Italian might be confused about English: from the word "her" or "his" he can never know the gender or number of the object.

i think suoi, sua, and suo etc refer to the third person ie- ''her'' and ''his''. whereas you would use tuoi, tuo, or tua, refer to the 2nd person ie- ''your''.

If there's no gender given I just assume the phrase is masculine. I'm not sure if this is the right approach but it seems to be working so far.

If the gender is not stated, I just alternate between genders however I feel like. If we don't know the context, either is correct.

In this case it doesn't matter. Both his or her is accepted

doulingo answer is wrong

Hello, As far as I know, mouse is trnslated as Topo and Rat is translated as Ratto.

Laughs...a mouse is not a rat

There is no "gatte" that i know of... the gender rules refer to the gender of the word itself, not the actual cats

Yes, the poor mouse had to teach us a huge lesson, I finally placed " I topo" right, until "another under certain conditions" comes along. Thanks to all who helped me to patently understand when to place or not to place the definitive article

The official translation is "His cats eat the mouse." You must have hit a glitch or made a typo.

Since 'suoi' agrees with 'gatti' (the thing being possessed rather than the person doing the possessing as in English) the gender of the person who owns the cats is unknown, so it can be 'his cats' or 'her cats'. :)

It is either his, hers or its.

'Suoi' is for 3rd person singular (his or her) only.

Duo will capitalize Suo, Sue, Lei, etc if it's meant to be "you(r), formal."

Strange. Did you report it?

Yes, but it does not agree with the owner. I can be talking about a woman and say "il suo gatto" because it must agree with "gatto".

Only if it's in the predicate, not if it's in the subject or an isolated noun phrase.

i suoi gatti = her cats
i suoi gatti sono neri = her cats are black
sono (i) suoi gatti = they are her cats

These rules apply in all cases, regardless of number or gender or person. The only exception is singular family members never get the article in the possessive.

mia madre = my mother

There is a subtle distinction to be made in using the article or not, they're not perfectly interchangeable. One way means "this is mine, not his" and the other way means "this, not something else, is mine".

Real-world conversations have a lot more context than single-sentence lessons.

No.

In Italian, the possessive agrees with the thing(s) possessed, not with who possesses it.

il suo gatto can mean either his (male) cat or her (male) cat.
i suoi gatti can mean either his cats or her cats.
la sua gatta can mean either his (female) cat or her (female) cat.
le sue gatte can mean either his (female) cats or her (female) cats.

Masculine is the default, so "gatti" can mean all male cats, a mix of male and female cats, or an unknown composition of cats.

That's just how Italian grammar works. They use the definite article with the possessive.

The rules for the indefinite articles are here:
http://www.oneworlditaliano.com/english/italian-grammar/italian-definite-articles.htm

There are exceptions, but most of the time, you can tell from how a noun ends whether it's masculine or feminine:
-o masculine singular
-i masculine plural
-a feminine singular
-e feminine plural

It's the number and gender of the noun that determines the form that associated articles, possessives, adjectives, and pronouns take.

It's "gatti" because either it's multiple male cats or a mix or we don't know. It would be "gatte" if we knew all the cats were female.

It's "i suoi" because "gatti" is masculine plural. If it were "gatte", it would be "le sue". If it were only one cat and the cat was male or unknown, it would be "il suo gatto". If it were only one cat and it was female, it would be "la sua gatta".

That's just how Italian grammar works. It requires the definite article with the possessive in the subject (except for singular family members).

If it's spoken, I agree. If it's written, then the S would be capitalized.

That would be "i loro gatti".

Possessives agree with what is possessed, not with who possesses it.

il suo = singular masculine
i suoi = plural masculine/mixed
la sua = singular feminine
le sue = plural feminine

Yes, there is a rule for regular verbs. (For irregular verbs, you just have to memorize their special forms, but the good news is that most verbs are regular or semi-regular.)

To start, you need to know the infinitive form. In this case, it's mangiare. To conjugate it, you remove the infinitive ending -are and use the suffix appropriate to the person:

MANGI-ARE
io mangi-o
tu mang-i (the stem already ends with i, so there's no need for an extra i)
lui/lei mangi-a
noi mang-iamo (the stem already ends with i, so there's no need for an extra i)
voi mangi-ate
loro mangi-ano

One cat eats.
Many cats eat.

I eat
you eat
he eats
we eat
you eat
they eat

Yes, although it is relevant how the question was presented and how you're meant to answer. If it's free-writing, then either "his cats" or "her cats" should work. If it's multiple choice, however, then if both options are available then both should be selected.

Thank you mui grazia very helpful

The point is not to teach biology or zoology. The point is to teach vocabulary and grammar.

If this sentence bothers you, then beware of "The monkey reads a book".