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Il suo figliastro studia all'estero.

Il suo figliastro studia all'estero.
Her stepson studies abroad.
From Lesson 400:Possessives with family exceptions·Italian

Questions & Answers about Il suo figliastro studia all'estero.

Why is there a definite article (il) before suo figliastro? I thought singular family members drop it with possessives.
You are right that standard, unmodified singular family members drop the article (like suo padre). However, altered nouns are an exception to this rule. Because figliastro is formed by adding a suffix to the base word figlio, it requires the definite article.
How do we know il suo means 'her' here, rather than 'his'?
In isolation, we don't! Italian possessives agree in gender and number with the noun being possessed, not the owner. Since figliastro is masculine singular, the possessive must be il suo whether the parent is a man or a woman. The provided translation uses 'her' based on outside context.
What does the suffix -astro mean in figliastro?
The suffix -astro generally gives an altered, 'lesser', or sometimes pejorative shade to a word in Italian. However, when attached to family terms like figlio (son) or fratello (brother), it acts just like the English prefix 'step-', creating figliastro (stepson) or fratellastro (stepbrother).
Why do we use all' in the phrase all'estero?
The word estero acts as a noun here meaning 'the exterior' or 'foreign territory'. The standard Italian expression for 'abroad' or 'overseas' is always all'estero, combining the preposition a with the definite article l'.

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