Modern Descendants of Latin

369

(her father) The combinations a mm, a lui> etc , can replace le mien
la sienne^ etc 3 as ni c'est a moi (it is mine), c'est a lui (it is his)

Both in Italian and Portuguese the possessive adjective has the same
form as the possessive pronoun When used attributively, the possessive
takes the definite article, e g Italian il mio bracczo (my arm); Portuguese
o men brago The definite article is omitted after essere or ser3 meaning belong
to, e g Italian la casa e mia (the house is mine)5 Portuguese a casa e rmnha
The Spanish possessive adjective has two forms3 a shorter which pre-
faces the noun without the article, e g mi casa, and a more emphatic
one which is put after the noun with the article^ e g la casa mia The
latter also acts as pronoun, and in this capacity takes the article as in
French^ ella ohido el suyo> i e saco (she forgot heisa i e bag)

ROMANCE POSSESSIVES

FRENCH
PORTUGUESE
SPANISH
ITALIAN

(a) Adjectives

MY
m0?z(m ) ma(f )
meus miriha
ğM(S)
wiOj etc

mes(pl )
meuss mirihas

THY
ton> etc,
teuj tva>
m(s)
?wo, etc

teus> tuas

HIS,, HER, ITS
son, etc
seu, etc
su(s)
suo, etc

(hke leu}

OUR
notre, nos (pi )
nosso, etc
nuestro, etc
nosrro, etc

YOUR
votre> vos (pi )
vossOy etc
vuestro, etc
Castro, etc

THEIR
leur(s)
seu> etc
sz^(s)
/^ro

(fc) Pronouns

MIKE
fa^ne
as above
wz/Oa etc
as above

l^rm^*
preceded

preceded

les miennes
by the definite

by the definite

THINE
le tien^ etc
article
rwjy^ etc
article

HIS, HERS, ITS
le sien^ etc

suyos etc

OURS
le or la notre

les notres

(as above)

YOURS
le votre, etc

THEIRS
le^ lay les
leur(s)

suyo(s)

POLITE ADDRESS
One of the booby-traps of the Romance languages is choice of pro-
nouns (and possessives) appropriate to intimate or formal address
Roman citizens addressed one another as tu The thou-foxm of French,