Talking about your family in Italian will also help you understand how the Italian masculine and feminine principles work.
By the end of this lesson you’ll also know how to talk about more than one person.
Resources for further reading:
Let’s look at how you would pronounce your immediate family members in Italian:
Rocket Record lets you perfect your Italian pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!
I miei genitori
My parents
I miei parenti
My relatives
Mia sorella abita in Francia
My sister lives in France
Mio fratello è alto
My brother is tall
Mia moglie
My wife
Mio marito
My husband
Il mio ragazzo / Il mio fidanzato
My boyfriend
La mia ragazza / La mia fidanzata
My girlfriend
I miei cugini
My cousins (male)
Le mie cugine
My cousins (female)
Notice that in English we always use “my”, whatever person or group of people we are talking about. In Italian, “my” takes on three different forms depending on the person or thing in question!
“Mia” refers to a woman or a feminine item, “Mio” is used for a man or masculine item, and “Miei" or "Mie” is used when we talk about more than one person or item!
Take a good look at the above list and begin to make the connections about gender rules and you will be half-way to understanding how Italian people think and speak!
Mia
My (referring to a female or feminine item)
Mio
My (referring to a male or masculine item)
Miei / Mie
My (referring to more than one person or item)
I hope you enjoyed today's lesson! Here are a few recommended Italian lessons to try next!
A presto!
Maria DiLorenzi and the Rocket Italian Team
Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!