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Non è colpa mia, è colpa tua!

Non è colpa mia, è colpa tua!
It is not my fault, it is your fault!
From Lesson 401:Casa mia (possessives after the noun)·Italian

Breakdown of Non è colpa mia, è colpa tua!

la colpa
the fault

Questions & Answers about Non è colpa mia, è colpa tua!

Why do the possessive adjectives (mia, tua) come after the noun colpa instead of before it?
In Italian, placing the possessive after the noun is often used for emphasis. By saying colpa mia and colpa tua, the speaker is strongly contrasting whose fault it actually is. It is also a fixed idiom; with the word colpa (fault), the possessive almost always follows the noun.
Why is the definite article (la) completely omitted here?
When the possessive adjective shifts to follow the noun in fixed expressions with words like colpa (fault), casa (home), or merito (merit), the definite article is dropped. You say è colpa mia rather than è la colpa mia.
Could I just say non è la mia colpa, è la tua colpa?
While people would understand you, it sounds highly unnatural to native ears. Italians treat è colpa mia as a fixed chunk. Saying la mia colpa sounds like a direct English translation and loses the punchy contrast of putting the possessive at the very end.
How would I phrase this if I wanted to blame a third party by name, such as 'It is Marco's fault'?
You would use the preposition di (of) immediately after the word colpa, saying è colpa di Marco. Just like with the possessives in this sentence, you still leave out the article la before colpa.

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