- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- "Lei non è mia."
96 Comments
Why isn't it 'lei non è LA mia'? I'm finding this section very confusing..
Either way is correct. When you saying something is mine/yours/theirs/etc., the article is optional. It's when you say my/your/their/etc. something that it's mandatory.
Sono le mie; Sono mie
Le mie mele
To expand a bit:
The definite article is required with the possessive adjective, except with singular unmodified family members:
- il mio tavolo
- mia madre
- i miei cugini
- la mia sorella alta
The definite article can be included or omitted with the possessive pronoun, but it changes the focus a little bit:
- "La gatta è la mia" means "The CAT (and not something else) is mine."
- "La gatta è mia" means "The cat is MINE (and not someone else's)."
The section note (on bottom of the sub-sections says:
In Italian an article is almost always mandatory before a possessive. The exceptions are:
<pre>Close family members, in the singular and not modified, e.g. "mio padre" (my father), unless the possessive is "loro" (in which case the article is needed).
When the possessive adjective is alone as a predicate, e.g. "è mio" (it's mine).
In a small number of set phrases, e.g. "casa mia" (my home).
</pre>
Me too. I found some sentences with la-il. But there are other sentences without it. For example: "Non e la mia" "Non e mio".
I can´t believe it. This is so frustrating.
In the hints for this lesson it says that there are exceptions for using the "il mio/la mia" format:
-With close family members -Some common phrases and -Following variations of the verb essere ("to be")--which is what I think is what's tripping you guys up. (Sono, sei, e, siamo, and siete are all conjugations of essere!)
Been through this section a few times now, and this seems to be the only one without the article (la, il, i, le). It seems to me that when you say "mine" in english, the article is not used, but when you say "my" you use the article. Just a guess, though.
where can I find this section that you are referring to? Is it a special program? Sounds like it would be very helpful
well, it could also be some feminine object, it needn't be a person. then the translation would be: it isn't mine :-)
I'm pretty sure (someone please correct me if I'm wrong on any of this!) that if you were to be referring to an inanimate object, you would use "essa," not "lei." And in that case you'd probably just drop the pronoun altogether (as I recall, in Italian pronouns for inanimate objects are unusual). I'm also pretty sure you'd also have to add "la" back, becoming "Non è la mia" - if I remember right it's not used here because the sentence is referring to a person.
Indeed, the person could be talking about an animal as well. Saying that some random cow doesn't belong to the person talking, for example.
I got marked wrong for it rather than she. I am owned by a cat, and own no humans.
The regular word for cat is usually masculine "il gatto" unless you are talking about breeding two cats, then there is "gatta". Lion is masculine, "il lione", but tiger and cougar are feminine, "la tigre" and "la puma". I hope you don't own one of those. Perhaps you are walking home, "la casa" or the house is feminine.
https://www.italianpod101.com/blog/2020/05/17/guide-to-italian-grammatical-gender/
In theory, but I'm not sure the Italian team has it programmed into Duolingo.
You=tu/voi; lei=she. lei can be a courtesy form but not in this case : the possesive adjective mia refers to personal pronoun lei is feminine and i find difficult to think possible to use a courtesy form to say a woman that is mine Signora, lei è mia Madam, you is mine.
"Lei" with a capital "L" and "Loro" with a capital "L" are the formal "you"s, and conjugate with the 3rd person. It's a lot like the Spanish "usted(es)" that way.
Why not "It is not mine". Referring to a feminine noun as in French and Spanish?
Ah, no, you may have hoped it was similar to Spanish?
https://www.thoughtco.com/forgotten-italian-subject-pronouns-2011380
https://www.thoughtco.com/demonstrative-pronouns-spanish-3079351
https://www.thoughtco.com/latin-pronouns-120439
http://www.italianlanguageguide.com/grammar/demonstrative-pronoun.asp
https://dictionary.reverso.net/english-italian/this
You may find expressions which in English use "this" that might use "it" in Italian.
Does LEI here refer to a person or a thing (it)? How would you say, It is not mine?
Someone please tell me how to study grammar from basics ? so that i can learn this with reference to grammatical rules.
It can go either way. It's only possessive adjectives that require the definite article. Possessive pronouns can have it or not, but the emphasis is subtly different.
"La gatta è la mia" means "The CAT (and not something else) is mine."
"La gatta è mia" means "The cat is MINE (and not someone else's)."
It doesn't matter who you are. Possessives agree with the possessed, not the owner.
IO il mio = my singular masculine thing i miei = my plural masculine things la mia = my singular feminine thing le mie = my plural feminine things
TU il tuo i tuoi la tua le tue
LUI/LEI il suo i suoi la sua le sue
NOI il nostro i nostri la nostra le nostre
VOI il vostro i vostri la vostra le vostre
LORO il loro i loro la loro le loro
I am simply too confused now.. Because I dunno when am I supposed to use mio, mia or miei :/
Both are equally valid without greater context to determine which is more appropriate.
It doesn't matter who you are. Possessives agree with the possessed, not the owner.
IO
il mio = my singular masculine thing
i miei = my plural masculine things
la mia = my singular feminine thing
le mie = my plural feminine things
TU
il tuo
i tuoi
la tua
le tue
LUI/LEI
il suo
i suoi
la sua
le sue
NOI
il nostro
i nostri
la nostra
le nostre
VOI
il vostro
i vostri
la vostra
le vostre
LORO
il loro
i loro
la loro
le loro
If the thing is feminine, but there is another pronoun “essa” just for “it” and usually the subject pronoun is omitted. https://www.thoughtco.com/italian-subject-pronouns-4062604
Remember that in Italian everything is either masculine or feminine, so it could be any feminine noun that is being replaced by this pronoun. The English translation could also be "It is not mine." I would be more worried if they said "She is mine.", but here she is a free person. Then again, "mine" replaces "my + noun", so who is to say that the previous sentence was not "my wife" or "my girlfriend".
Or also my rubber, my home, my pencil, because In Italian those are feminine nouns
The form "i miei" is masculine plural only. There are 4 forms. The form "le mie" is feminine plural. Scroll up for a full list of possessives.
Excuse you, what are you asking? Scroll up for a lot of information that might help.
Is it miA because lei is feminine or because the speaker is feminine? If a man was saying that would it still be mia?
Lei non è io. English uses the object pronoun here even though technically it's the nominative. "To be/essere" is a verb of state that compares or equates. There is no action happening.
You mean: if it were "She is not me"? Maybe "Lei non è mi"? I'm just guessing!
I think you'd tend to use the pronoun I in this case in Italian and say 'Lei non e io'. But I'm not 100% sure either.
