Possessive adjectives in French are used before a noun to explain who something belongs to. The possessive adjectives in French are mon meaning my, ton meaning your (informal), son meaning his, her, its, notre meaning our, votre meaning your (formal singular or plural), and leur meaning their. Just like in English, the French possessive adjective you choose will depend on the person and number of the possessor noun. However, in French, the form of the possessive adjective will also depend on the gender and number of the noun that is possessed (like other French adjectives do!).
In this post, we’ll review the possessive adjectives in French, along with where to place them in the sentence, how to form agreement with the possessed noun, and the difference between possessive adjectives in English and French.
What are the possessive adjectives in French?
The French possessive adjectives are mon meaning my, ton meaning your (informal), son meaning his, her, its, notre meaning our, votre meaning your (formal singular or plural), and leur meaning their. Possessive adjectives tell us who something, or someone, belongs or has a connection to. Later in the post, you’ll learn a few additional forms of the possessive adjectives above!
Here’s a typical example in French:
In the example above, mon refers back to the speaker (because they are talking about their own sibling), but the masculine, singular form of the possessive adjective agrees with the French gender and number of the noun frère meaning brother. But before we discuss agreement, let’s mention how to place possessive adjectives in a sentence!
Where to place possessive adjectives in French?
In French, you always place possessive adjectives before the noun. For example:
In addition, you always place a possessive adjective before any other adjective describing the noun in question. For example:
How to form agreement with possessive adjectives in French?
The form the possessive adjective takes in French depends on a few factors relating both to the owner and the item owned. Possessive adjectives must account for:
Who the owner is
How many owners there are
The gender (masculine or feminine) of the item owned
How many things are owned (the number in French)
Because of all the factors that go into choosing the proper agreement forms for French possessive adjectives, there are a lot of forms of the French possessive adjectives to learn: 15! That’s a lot more than the 7 in English!
The table below shows you which form of the possessive adjective to use, depending on the gender and number of the thing that is possessed (owned). Notice that the gender of the item owned is only relevant when there is one owner and one owned thing, and that the possessive adjective doesn’t indicate the gender of the owner!
| Number of item(s) owned | Gender of item(s) owned | Person and number of owner(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular (one item owned) | masculine |
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|
feminine |
| ||
| Plural (more than one item owned) | all genders |
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For additional review of the possessive adjectives in French, check out our handy table!
Now, let’s try to figure out together how one would say, “Your car is in your garage”:
First, we need to know the owner: is it one person or is it a group?
Then, we need to know the situation: is it formal or is it informal?
Finally, we need to know the item owned: is it one or many and is it masculine or feminine?
In the example above, let’s say the owner (second person “you”) is one person and the situation is informal (meaning the French pronoun is tu). We also know that voiture meaning car is a feminine singular noun and that garage meaning garage is a masculine singular noun. If we look at the table above, for a singular possessor and a feminine, single possessed item, “your” is ta; and for a singular possessor and a masculine, single item, “your” is ton. So, here it is:
By now, we’ve seen how different possessive adjectives in French are from English. Let’s look at more of these differences in their forms and uses!
What are the differences between English and French possessive adjectives?
There are a few important differences between English and French when it comes to possessive adjectives, including both differences in how they are formed and how they are used.
Be careful with son / sa / ses!
Possessive adjectives don’t indicate the gender of the owner.
In English, if you say “her car,” we know instantly that the owner of the car is female, but in French, this is not the case. We say sa voiture because the item owned is feminine (i.e., the noun voiture).
So, in French, there is not a different third person singular possessive adjective for “his” and “her.” Instead, you need to look at the context of the sentence to correctly translate son, sa, and ses in English with either "his" or "her."
Let’s put this into practice:
un livre (m., sg.) |
|
une veste (f., sg.) |
|
les chiens (m., pl.) |
|
les chaussures (f., pl.) |
|
Looking at the examples above, because livre is masculine and singular, it will always be son regardless of the owner! And voiture will also be sa, because it is feminine!
Using possessive adjectives in lists of things
In English, you don’t need to repeat the possessive adjective in a list. In French, you always have to.
For example:
Using possessive adjectives with body parts
If the body part is the subject, you use a possessive adjective; otherwise, you use a definite article in French.
For example:- Ses mains sont propres.Translation: Her/His hands are clean.
- Je me brosse les dents.Translation: I brush my teeth.
If you use a reflexive verb in French, use an article and not a possessive adjective.
For example:Elle se lavesesmains → Elle se lave les mains.Translation: She is washing her hands.But if you add an adjective, the possessive adjective must come back.
For example:Elle se lave ses jolies mains.Translation: She is washing her pretty hands.
How to use possessive adjectives in polite phrases in French?
In polite phrases in French, we use words like madame, monsieur, messieurs, etc., which all contain a possessive adjective! When addressing a lady or a gentleman formally and politely, we use madame, mademoiselle or monsieur. The plural forms are mesdames and messieurs. These words are formed with the possessive adjective:
ma + dame meaning my + lady
ma + demoiselle meaning my + miss
mon + sieur meaning my + sir
mes + sieurs meaning my + sirs
In the XVI century, monsieur was used to say “my lord” to address noblemen.
Note that nowadays we keep the same level of respect in the army with mon général meaning my general, mon capitaine meaning my captain, and mon colonel meaning my colonel.
French possessive adjectives checklist
When using French possessive adjectives, remember the following:
Check who owns the item
Check the gender of the item
Check how many items there are
Check how many owners there are
Remember the exceptions: singular feminine noun starting with a vowel or starting with a mute 'h,’ and body parts.
Now, let’s practice the French possessive adjectives with a fun memory game: Dans ma valise, j’ai mis….
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