Therefore, even the plural possessive adjectives are always preceded by a definite article, with no exception!!

Still doubts about the articles?

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There are other 0 possessive adjectives:

proprio/a/i/e → it can be used instead of the possessive adjective of 0rd person singular or plural BUT only if the subject possesses!!
For example:

Ogni persona porta il proprio zaino. (Everyone brings his or her own backpack) → In this sentence it is possible to use “proprio” instead of “suo” because it is the subject of the sentence (ogni persona) that possesses.

Instead:

Ho chiesto a Maria di portare il suo (proprio) zaino. → Here we cannot use “proprio” because the subject of the sentence is “I” but the person who possesses is Maria!

altrui → it takes the meaning of “of someone else” and it is usually used to indicate an indefinite person (only people!) who possesses.
For example:

Non si deve giudicare la vita altrui. (One should not judge other people’s lives = One should not judge the lives of someone else) → we don’t know who we are talking about but we do know they are people. Since it can be replaced by the preposition “di” + a noun, “altrui” generally follows the noun (as the preposition would do!).

Don’t miss our lesson about indefinite articles!