When to use definite article and 'my'.
Thanks very much for the help with my previous question.

I have found the following sentences from a text book, and cannot understand why the definite article ‘THE’ is not used in the Italian translation, even though it is used in the English;

1. Have you looked in the car
Hai guardato IN macchina

2. Perhaps I put it in the bedroom
Forse ‘ho messo IN camera da letto

Also, in the next sentence, why don’t they use ‘my’;

3. I’ve only got the train tickets in my bag
IN borsa ho soltanto i biglietti del treno

I have learned that when you speak about possessing a thing, you use ‘il mio/i miei la mia/le mie’, so why isn’t it used here?

Hope someone can help with this.

Thanks again

Chloe

Question

When to use definite article and 'my'.
Thanks very much for the help with my previous question.

I have found the following  sentences from a text book, and cannot understand why the definite article ‘THE’ is not used in the Italian translation, even though it is used in the English;

1.	Have you looked in the car
Hai guardato IN macchina

2.	Perhaps I put it in the bedroom
Forse ‘ho messo IN camera da letto

Also, in the next sentence, why don’t they use ‘my’;
 
3.	I’ve only got the train tickets in my bag
IN borsa ho soltanto i biglietti del treno

I  have learned that when you speak about possessing a thing, you use ‘il mio/i miei la mia/le mie’, so why isn’t it used here?

Hope someone can help with this.

Thanks again

Chloe

Answer

In this cases you shouldn't put the l'articolo determinativo il/la because it's clear that the situation involves people who don't need  further explanations about which car or which bedroom they are considering. For example Have you looked in the car? hai guardato in macchina is quite different from have you looked in the car of your brother? hai guardato nella macchina di tuo fratello and you can't translate with hai guardato in macchina di tuo fratello? 
In borsa ho soltanto i biglietti del treno : it's clear that the bag belongs to you because you can put tickets train just in the bag which is yours, so adding the adjective my is pleonastic

Answer

Number 2 should read as follows;

Forse l'ho messo

The article they are referring to is 'il passaporto'