Assomiglia a sua madre.

Italian often drops the subject pronoun when it is clear from the verb form or from context.

• Assomiglia = he/she/it resembles
• So the sentence can mean:
  • He resembles his mother
  • She resembles her mother
  • or another similar context-dependent meaning

In English, you usually need the subject (He resembles...), but in Italian it is often omitted.

Assomiglia comes from the verb assomigliare, which means to resemble or to look like.

In this sentence, assomiglia is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense

So it means:

• he/she resembles
• he/she looks like

Some present-tense forms of assomigliare are:

• io assomiglio = I resemble / I look like
• tu assomigli = you resemble
• lui/lei assomiglia = he/she resembles
• noi assomigliamo = we resemble
• voi assomigliate = you all resemble
• loro assomigliano = they resemble

Because assomigliare normally takes the preposition a before the person or thing someone resembles.

So Italian says:

• assomigliare a qualcuno = to resemble someone
• assomigliare a qualcosa = to resemble something

Examples:

• Assomiglio a mio padre. = I look like my father.
• Lei assomiglia a sua sorella. = She resembles her sister.

This is different from English, where resemble does not need a preposition.

With close family members in the singular, Italian often leaves out the article before the possessive.

So you usually get:

• mia madre = my mother
• tuo padre = your father
• sua sorella = his/her sister

That is why a sua madre is perfectly normal.

But the article often appears:

1. with plural family members
   • i suoi fratelli = his/her brothers
2. when the family noun is modified
   • la sua cara madre = his/her dear mother
3. with some less close or less basic family terms, depending on usage

So sua madre is standard here.

Yes—sua can mean his, her, its, and sometimes your in the formal singular (Lei) depending on context.

In this sentence, sua madre could mean:

• his mother
• her mother
• possibly your mother if speaking formally

Italian possessives agree with the thing possessed, not with the owner.

Since madre is feminine singular, Italian uses sua.

Compare:

• suo padre = his/her father
• sua madre = his/her mother
• suoi amici = his/her friends
• sue sorelle = his/her sisters

It agrees with madre.

That is a very important point for English speakers. In Italian, the possessive matches the noun that follows, not the person who owns it.

So:

• madre is feminine singular → sua madre
• padre is masculine singular → suo padre
• sorelle is feminine plural → sue sorelle

This happens whether the owner is male or female.

So both of these are possible:

• Lui assomiglia a sua madre. = He resembles his mother.
• Lei assomiglia a sua madre. = She resembles her mother.

Yes. Somigliare and assomigliare are both used to mean to resemble / to look like.

So both are possible:

• Assomiglia a sua madre.
• Somiglia a sua madre.

In many contexts they are basically equivalent. Which one sounds more natural can depend on region, style, and personal preference, but both are standard and understandable.

It can correspond to both.

Depending on context, you could translate it as:

• He/She resembles his/her mother
• He/She looks like his/her mother

In normal conversation, looks like is often the more natural English translation, but resembles is also correct and a bit more formal.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

ahs-soh-MEE-lya ah SOO-ah MAH-dreh

A few points:

• gli in assomiglia is pronounced like the lli in million for many English speakers, though not exactly the same.
• sua has two vowel sounds: SOO-ah
• Stress:
  • assoMIGlia
  • SUa
  • MAdre

It can refer to physical resemblance, and sometimes also to a more general resemblance, depending on context.

Most commonly, people understand it as:

• He/She looks like his/her mother

But it can also suggest similarity in manner, character, or behavior if the context supports that.

If you want to be more specific in Italian, you can add extra words:

• Assomiglia a sua madre fisicamente. = He/She resembles his/her mother physically.
• Assomiglia a sua madre nel carattere. = He/She is like his/her mother in character.