"Her cats eat the mouse."

Translation: I suoi gatti mangiano il topo.

[BanRi]

Is 'le gatte' not permissible here?

[JosephZing]

It looks like it IS permissible (Le sue gatte) but I'm a bit confused as to how both are correct.

[tu.8zPhLD72zzoZN]

It depends whether the cats are male or female. In English "her" does not tell us the gender or number of the cats. In Italian, the possessive takes its gender and number from the noun it describes instead of the owner. The Italian "sue", for feminine cats "gate", could have the owner which is "lei" (she) "lui" (he) and if capitalized "Sue" is for "Lei" (formal singular version of you). The Italian "suoi" is for masculine cats "gatti" regardless of the owner.

http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare132a.htm
http://italian.about.com/library/fare/blfare164a.htm

[Viaggiatore]

If you want to emphasize that the cats are female.

[parya2]

But i soui gatti not emphesize feminin!

[BanRi]

Grazie :)

[ShaneConro]

How big are mice in Italy that cats can share them?

[John.Burgess]

OK. Why not "i sui". Have I just made up a word?

[malenkaya_bereza]

it's "suoi", not "sui"

[Gelemano]

I am sad, because I had only 1 mistake (gatte) in the translation, but it was not accepted by the system.

[starfysh]

Does 'I gatti di lei' also work in this translation? I know the exercise is wanting you to use suoi etc but just curious if this works as well?

[Lizzi9011]

I used suri instead of suoi. Isnt that for masculine plural? Im confused

[tu.8zPhLD72zzoZN]

No, sorry. Please scroll up in a previous answer I gave a website that explains in detail.

[freyasamuel]

When do you use mangiano or mangano? I know it's basic but haven't grasped that yet!

[Johndilio]

Mangano is not a verb. Mangiano is used for LORO (THEY)