Les adjectifs possessifs
(Possessive Adjectives)
A possessive adjective describes the ownership of a noun.
“My” is an example of an English possessive adjective. “My pencil” shows that the pencil
belongs to me. If the pencil belonged to you, the possessive adjective would be “your,”
“your pencil”. In English, there is only one possessive adjective per subject pronoun.
These are as follows:
I
you
he
she
it
we
they
my
your
his
her
its
our
their
In French, the possessive adjective depends not only on the subject pronoun (or owner)
but also on the noun it’s describing (what is owned). So, since these possessives must
also agree in gender and number with “what is owned,” there are three possessive
adjectives for every subject pronoun.
Possessive Adjectives
Subject pronoun
Masculine
Feminine
object
object
Je
mon
ma
Tu
ton
ta
il / elle / on
son
sa
nous
notre
notre
vous
votre
votre
ils / elles
leur
leur
Plural
object
mes
tes
ses
nos
vos
leurs
It is very important to note that the gender and number of the noun following the
possessive adjective will determine which possessive adjective is used.
So how would you say “her car?” The subject pronoun is “she” or elle. If we look at the
corresponding line, we now must choose between son, sa, and ses. We know we are
only talking about one car, so it will be one of the singular possessive adjectives, son or
sa. Now the only question is whether the noun, “car” or voiture, is masculine or
feminine. Since voiture is feminine, “her car” is sa voiture.
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Les adjectifs possessifs
(Possessive Adjectives)
What if you want to say “his car?” Remember, the noun being possessed determines
which possessive adjective you will use. Since the gender and number of the noun
voiture did not change, it can never be son voiture. So “his car” will also be sa voiture.
This is another example of why it is so important to know the gender of every noun you
learn. This can be confusing at first, so make sure you practice. Now take a list of nouns
and formulate sentences using each possessive adjective.
Les adjectifs possessifs
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