The possessive adjectives son, sa, and ses can translate to his, her or its depending on who is in possession of the particular noun.. Marie aime sa voiture.Marie likes her car. As you noticed from the table above, French possessive pronouns are composed of two words. By possessive pronouns. (That book is mine! In French the definite article le, la, les is always used with a possessive pronoun. http://www.frenchspanishonline.com/magazine/?p=3502 Possessive Pronouns in French What are French Pronouns? Possessive adjective + noun can be replaced by a possessive pronoun. If you consider the phrase "his book," "his" is a possessive adjective modifying the noun "book." )Ils viennent dans leur voiture. In French, however, because an apostrophe is only used to replace a letter that is omitted due to elision, 's is not used to show possession. The rules are different in French and in English. In this case la montre is singular, so we have to use la sienne. Ce caniche appartient à Louise. (I have lost my keys. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, Gender and Number Agreement: the Owner is Irrelevant, Possessive Pronoun: Agreement Plus the Definite Article, Don't Forget Preposition-Article Contractions, French Possessive Pronouns, by Person, Gender, Number. )Ce caniche appartient à Louise. "How and When to Use French Possessive Pronouns." They have to correspond with the gender and number of the possessed noun. Possessive adjectives are the words used . ), it’s a pronoun, not an adjective. For instance, in English, the possessive pronouns are a mine, yours, his, her, its, ours, theirs : It’s my fault not yours! In the following table, the choice between the singular or plural form and between the masculine or feminine form depends on the number and gender of the item possessed. les tiens. French possessive pronouns are the equivalent of mine, yours, its, ours, theirs. "How and When to Use French Possessive Pronouns." Watch for the idiomatic expression, “faire des siennes,” which means “to act up,” “to pull its old tricks”: Le moteur a calé! (I like our house, but frankly, I am jealous of theirs!). http://LFWA.COM presents French Masculine Singular POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS: mine, yours, his, hers, etc. You have to change your focus. Comme en français et en allemand, les pronoms possessifs ont différentes formes selon le nombre et le genre du nom auquel ils se rapportent. ThoughtCo. Possessive à: The preposition à is used with the verb être in front of stressed pronouns in order to emphasize the ownership of the object. In Il aime sa voiture and Il aime la sienne, we use the third person pronoun because person has to agree with the the owner or possessor, which is il. ), One North College StNorthfield, MN 55057USA, French and Francophone Studies pages maintained by. something belongs. Possession is generally indicated by one of three methods in French: 1. Must agree with the possessed noun in number and sometimes gender. Placed directly in front of a noun or an adjective + noun. les miennes. Possession is generally indicated by one of three methods in French: 1. Look, someone's car is getting towed! (That book is mine!) la tienne. This car is acting up again! In French, you need to focus on the dog! to whom . mine. In French, possessive pronouns indicate both the possessor and the number and the gender of the object possessed: le mien indicates that the possessor is 'I' and that the possession is masculine singular. However, possessive pronouns are actually a little more involved because plural possessive pronouns are also differentiated by gender. It is very similar to Spanish, and they are used in the same cases, to replace something that we have already spoken about, and that expresses possession. Possessive pronouns are the words that replace nouns modified by possessive adjectives. to what . The second one marks the possessive. tbs-sct.gc.ca. By possessive pronouns, the forms of which agree in number and, when the forms allow, in gender with the noun they replace: le mien / la mienne / les miens / les miennesle tien / la tienne / les tiens / les tiennesle sien / la sienne / les siens / les siennesle nôtre / la nôtre / les nôtresle vôtre / la vôtre / les vôtresle leur / la leur / les leurs, J’ai mes préférences, et elle a les siennes. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/french-possessive-pronouns-1368931. The following table shows the forms of French … French uses a different word order than the one we are accustomed to, and possessive adjectives and pronouns also follow a different … ), au lieu d'ut iliser des pronoms tels que il et el le, il s et e ll es (et, en anglais, « he. Note that when a possessive replaces a noun altogether (yours, his, hers, etc. In terms of agreeing in gender and number, the owner's gender and number are irrelevant. The French possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives are slightly more complex than their English counterparts. The contractions are explained below in parentheses. For what it’s worth, here is the list of French pronouns. le tien. There are two different kinds of possessive pronouns in the French language: Regular possessive pronouns (look at the chart above) Contracted possessive pronouns Contracted pronouns with à. les miens. Jean is a man, but the watch ( la montre) is feminine. In French, it’s exactly the other way around… What matter is the number and gender ofthe dog(s), not the owner! The pronoun that would replace this whole phrase is "his," as in: Which book do you want? . While the plural possessive pronouns have just three: Masculine singular: le nôtre, le vôtre, le leur Feminine singular: la nôtre, la vôtre, la leur Plural: les nôtres, les vôtres, les leurs Let's examine the four ways to say 'mine.' 1. le mien can replace any masculine singular nominal group. By être à + noun (or disjunctive pronoun) or appartenir à + noun (or disjunctive pronoun): Ce livre est à moi! In English we may use an apostrophe and an ‐ s to show that something belongs to someone. Possessive pronouns replace nouns that are modified by a possessive adjective or other possessive construction or idea. There are a total of 15 different French possessive adjectives depending on the combination of possessor and … )J’espère que vous pourrez être des nôtres samedi soir. We don't care about the number and gender of the person, only the number and gender of the thing being possessed: la voiture. How Possessive Adjectives accord with their nouns. https://www.thoughtco.com/french-possessive-pronouns-1368931 (accessed April 16, 2021). The choice of the pronoun corresponds to the grammatical person and the number of the owner. How to express possession in French video part 2/2 (mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, yours, theirs) ThoughtCo. The gender and number of the object possessed determine which form to use. I want his. The first one is the determinant le, la, or les. These forms are spelled out in the table of possessive pronouns at the bottom of this page. The choice of its gender and number corresponds to the gender and number of the object that is owned. Possessive pronouns agree in number and gender with the noun they represent. French and English possessive pronouns are very similar in usage. French possessive pronouns made easy! 2. la mienne any feminine singular nominal group. (2020, August 26). le mien. articles to indicate . instead of u sing pronouns such as he and she (in French il, elle, ils, and ell es), and possessive adjectives such as his, [...] and her (in French, son or sa). Ce livre est à lui - This book is his C'est un ami à moi - He's a friend of mine List of French Pronouns. For forming contracted possessive pronouns correctly you have to know that in general à combined with the definite article le becomes au, and à with les becomes aux. Some of the worksheets displayed are Name date grammar work possessive pronouns, Possessive pronouns, Day 17 possessive and demonstrative adjectives, Pronouns subject object possessive pronouns and, Subject and object pronouns and possessive adjectives, Norwegian possessive pronouns phrases words or suffixes, French … (I hope you will be able to join us [be one of us] this Saturday evening. Marie aime son livre aussi.Marie likes her book too. Cette voiture fait encore des siennes! )J’aime bien notre maison, mais franchement, j’envie la leur! But it has to be the third person pronoun to agree with the owner. tbs-sct.gc.ca. Like possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns in French are assigned according to the gender and number of the noun and who’s doing the possessing. Pierre aime sa voiture aussi.Pierre likes his car too. French possessive adjectives are directly placed in front of the noun or adjective. The possessive pronouns have, as in French and German, different forms depending on the the number and gender of the noun. Characteristics of French possessive adjectives. tbs-sct.gc.ca. The French possessive adjectives are: mon / ton / son / notre / votre / leur in the masculine singular; ma / ta / sa / notre / votre / leur in the feminine singular; mes / tes / ses / nos / vos / leurs in the plural; Possessive adjectives come before the noun they refer to. ‼ Possessive pronouns are always preceded by definite… Regarde, la voiture de quelqu'un est en train d'être mise à la fourrière. mas… Note that the singular possessive adjectives have four forms each: The plural possessive adjectives have three forms: French possession Tu versus vous Expression: À la vôtre, ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Learn more about possessive, demonstrative, interrogative and regular adjectives and master their tricky p… French possessive pronouns vary in gender and in number. How and When to Use French Possessive Pronouns. The possessive adjective always comes before the noun which is “owned,” just like in English. This way you’ll have … If we replace the possessive adjective and noun here with a possessive pronoun, that sentence would read: Il aime la sienne (again, agrees with the feminine, singular la voiture). (That poodle belongs to Louise.) The Possessive Adjectives can be divided into 3 groups - one for each group of grammatical person (1) My/Our: mon, ma, mes nos, notre (2) Your: ton, ta, tes, vos, votre (3) He/She/It/Their: son, sa, ses, leur, leurs. 2. This means that there are different possessive adjectives for masculine, feminine, and plural nouns. or . Think about the logic of this and you'll see it makes perfect sense. (I met your grandparents.). ThoughtCo. Many translated example sentences containing "possessive pronoun" – French-English dictionary and search engine for French translations. ThoughtCo. (That poodle belongs to Louise.). Pierre aime son livre.Pierre likes his book. So, when talking about a woman, you’d say “son chien” (her male dog). In French, possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives must agree, in number and gender, with the thing(s) being possessed. Possessive pronouns Possessive pronouns – le mien – la mienne – les miennes = mine How do possessive pronouns work in French? The person refers to the owner or possessor. In English, the choice of the pronoun only depends on the gender of who’s possessing ( his, hers, theirs), and they don’t vary in number. Possession, Possessive Pronouns. The big difference is the agreement issue; as we discussed, the French possessive pronoun must match the noun being replaced in number and gender and the appropriate definite article must be added. When the possessive pronoun is preceded by the prepositions à or de, the preposition contracts with the definite article le, la, or les. (The motor has stalled! As the possessive adjective in French is easy to use, so is the pronoun . The following table lists the possessive pronouns by the possessor they indicate: possessed singular plural … in place of . Showing top 8 worksheets in the category - French Possessive Pronoun. By possessive adjectives, the forms of which agree in number and, when the forms allow, in gender with the object they modify: mon / ma / meston / ta / tesson / sa / sesnotre / nosvotre / vosleur / leurs, J’ai perdu mes clés. Pronouns are words that we use to replace nouns in a sentence, and they can be quite tricky to get the hang of. Since in French each noun is either feminine or masculine, both parts of the possessive pronouns have to agree in gender and number with the noun they replace. la mienne. FRENCH PROGRAM FOR SELF-LEARNERS ‼ Possessive pronouns agree with nouns in number and gender. French possessive pronouns are used to replace nouns so that you can indicate to whom or to what those nouns belong. Masculine and Feminine French Nouns ~ Noms, French Superlative Adverbs - Adverbes Superlatifs, French Comparative and Superlative Adverbs, It's 'Ces Filles' in French, Not 'Cettes', 'Lequel,' a Difficult French Pronoun, Explained, Learn to Use the French Word 'Tout' and Its Variations, Learn About French Demonstrative Pronouns (Pronoms démonstratifs), French Demonstrative Adjectives: Adjectifs Démonstratifs. (I have my likes, and she has hers. French adjectives change to reflect the gender and number of the noun they’re describing. Used in place of an article, not with one. When it comes to French pronouns, the most commonly used pronouns are personal pronouns, but even in that category there are many kinds that you need to learn in order to master the French language. yours. In French, the possessive pronouns are determined by the definite article le, la, les ("the"), depending on the gender and number of their referent; nonetheless, they are considered pronouns. 3. The gender and number of the possessive pronoun must agree with the gender and number of the noun possessed, not that of the possessor. French Possessive Adjectives - Adjectifs possessifs. A possessive pronoun can be used to replace it when it is used together with a noun in a … (They are coming in their car. )J’ai fait la connaissance de tes grands-parents. It’s counterintuitive, it sounds weird in English, but it is correct in French. So in the sentence, Il aime sa voiture ("He loves his car"), the possessive adjective sa agrees with what it modifies: the feminine, singular la voiture ("the car"). We have handled two examples where the gender was relevant. 2. In French, possessive pronouns vary in form depending on the gender and number of the noun they replace. ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/french-possessive-pronouns-1368931. Their usage is similar to English, but there are some differences in form. Watch my video lesson below or click here to see it on YouTube. By être à + noun (or disjunctive pronoun) or appartenir à + noun (or disjunctive pronoun): Ce livre est à moi! Because la montre is feminine, you have to use a feminine possessive pronoun.