Learn Italian: I cani di mio suocero sono grandi. - My father-in-law's dogs are big.

I cani di mio suocero sono grandi.

My father-in-law's dogs are big.

Breakdown of I cani di mio suocero sono grandi.

Questions & Answers about I cani di mio suocero sono grandi.

Why is there no definite article before mio suocero?

In Italian, you drop the definite article (like il or la) when a possessive adjective (like mio) comes right before a singular family member. Since suocero (father-in-law) is a singular family member, it is just mio suocero, not il mio suocero.

Why do we use di to say "my father-in-law's"?

Italian does not have an equivalent to the English apostrophe-s to show possession. Instead, you have to use the structure "the object of the person". So, "my father-in-law's dogs" becomes i cani di mio suocero (the dogs of my father-in-law).

Why does the adjective grandi end in an "i"?

The singular form of the word for "big" is grande. In Italian, adjectives that end in -e in the singular change to -i in the plural, regardless of whether the noun is masculine or feminine. Since cani (dogs) is plural, grande becomes grandi.

Does sono match with the dogs or the father-in-law?

Sono matches with the dogs! The subject of the sentence is i cani (the dogs), which is plural, so we use sono (they are). The phrase di mio suocero just tells us whose dogs they are, but it does not control the verb.