ILGUR: Italian Language, Grammar and Usage Resource

You might have encountered this little possessive adjective, altrui, and wondered what it means and how it is used. Altrui means of others (di altri), other people’s…, or someone else’s and is an invariable possessive (which means that it doesn’t change form because of gender or number) that refers to an undefined and unknown number of possessors.

It always refers only to people, and it typically follows the noun it modifies:

Mia madre mi dice sempre che devo evitare i problemi altrui.

My mother always tells me that I have to avoid the problems of others.

Non mi piace fumare in casa altrui.

I don’t like to smoke at other people’s houses.

Madre: Dani, non toccare la roba altrui!

Danilo: Mi spiace, mamma!

Mother: Dani, don’t touch other people’s things.

Danilo: Sorry, mom!

Proprio is one of those words in Italian that is often misused, even by Italians. Proprio, as an adverb,  means “really” (È proprio interessante!).  It can also be used as a possessive if it meets the following critera:

When the possession is that of an indefinite pronoun or the subject is impersonal (si), proprio is obligatory to express possession:

Tutti vogliono possedere le proprie case.

Everyone wants to own their own home.

Durante una vacanza si rilassa meglio con la propria stanza invece di condividere.

During a vacation one relaxes better with one’s own room instead of sharing.

In order to avoid ambiguity when the possessors are of the same person (third person singular or plural: suo and loro) and only if the subject of the sentence and the possessor are the same — the use of proprio signals to the reader or speaker that the possessor and subject are one and the same:

Marcello deve andare a Napoli per aiutare Annalisa con un progetto. Marcello non userà la propria macchina — non vuole partire.

Marcello has to go to Naples to help Annalisa with a project. Marcello will not use his (own) car — it doesn’t want to start.

In the example above, if sua were to be used, it would signal that the car is Annalisa’s. The use of propria reinforces to the reader whose car is being used (in this case, Marcello’s)

Proprio can also be used to express own, as in: my own, his own, your own, etc. as a means of reinforcing the standard possessivo:

Ora che ho i soldi, voglio la mia propria bici! Non mi piace dividere con mia sorella.

Now that I have money, I want my own bike. I don’t like sharing with my sister.