French Possessive Adjectives - Adjectifs possessifs



French Possessive Adjectives - Adjectifs possessifs

Possessive adjectives are the words used in place of articles to indicate to whom or to what something belongs. Their usage is similar to English, but there are some differences in form.

The following table shows the forms of French possessives.

|English |Masculine |Feminine |Before vowel |Plural |

|my |mon |ma |mon |mes |

|your (sing., fam.) |ton |ta |ton |tes |

|his, her, its |son |sa |son |ses |

|our |notre |notre |notre |nos |

|your (plur., form) |votre |votre |votre |vos |

|their |leur |leur |leur |leurs |

As you can see, French has many more possessives than English. For singular subjects (I, you, he/she/it), there are three forms of the possessive. The gender, number, and first letter of the noun possessed determine which form to use.

| |MY |YOUR     |HIS, HER, ITS |

|masc: pen |mon stylo |ton stylo |son stylo |

|fem: watch |ma montre   |ta montre |sa montre |

|vowel: friend |mon amie |ton amie |son amie |

|plural: brothers  |mes frères |tes frères |ses frères |

When a feminine noun begins with a vowel, the masculine possessive is used in order to keep from saying something like ma amie, where the flow of the sentence would be broken.

An important difference between French and English is that in French it is the gender of the noun that determines which form to use, not the gender of the subject. This is particularly difficult when talking about him/her/it. Son, sa, and ses can each mean his, her, or its depending on the context.

son lit can mean his bed, her bed, or its bed (e.g., the dog's)

When describing two or more nouns, a possessive adjective must be used in front of each one

his brother and sister = son frère et sa soeur

Plural subjects (we, you, they) have only two forms: singular and plural.

| |OUR |YOUR |THEIR |

|masc: pen |notre stylo |votre stylo |leur stylo |

|fem: watch |notre montre   |votre montre    |leur montre |

|plural: friends  |nos amis |vos amis |leurs amis |

Note: the possessive adjective is almost never used with body parts in French. You can't say 'my hand' or 'my hair.' Instead, the French use pronominal verbs to show possession with body parts:

Je me suis cassé la jambe - I broke my leg (literally, I broke the leg of myself).

Il se lave les cheveux - He's washing his hair (literally, He washes the hair of himself).

French Possessive Adjectives - Adjectifs possessifs

Test

Test your understanding of possessive adjectives with the following quiz. Feel free to look back at the lesson.

1. Where is her book? Où se trouve [pic] livre ?

2. I'd like to introduce you to my father and mother. Je te présente [pic]père et [pic]mère.

3. Here are our pens. Voici [pic]stylos.

4. Sarah, go look for your brother. Sarah, cherche [pic]frère.

5. Their friends are very nice. [pic]amis sont très sympa.

6. His sister is really smart. [pic]soeur est très intelligente.

7. What is your (plural) favorite restaurant? Quel est [pic]restaurant préféré ?

8. I lost his keys. J'ai perdu [pic]clés.

9. She likes their car. Elle aime bien [pic]voiture.

10. My parents hate to drive. [pic]parents détestent conduire.

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