Possession avec de (‘s in French)
In French, you can indicate possession by using the preposition de/du/des/d’ + owner
Le livre de Marie. / Marie’s book.
Les cousins de Joseph. / Joseph’s cousins.
Les cousins de Joseph. / Joseph’s cousins.
Possessive Adjective / Adjectifs possessifs
Video: The French Possessive Adjectives – Mon Ma Mes // French Grammar Course
You can also indicate possession by using a possessive adjective, the equivalent of “my, your, his, hers, its, our, your, their”.
Possessive adjectives are used before the noun and must agree in gender (genre) and number (nombre) with the noun (nom) they modify. Thus, if the noun is feminine, the possessive article must also be feminine. For example, the feminine noun famille requires a feminine form.
Ma famille (feminine, singular/féminin, singulier) est grande (feminine, singular/féminin, singulier) . / My family is large.
Ta mère (feminine, singular/féminin, singulier) s’appelle Renée (feminine, singular/féminin, singulier) . / Your mother is named Renée.
Leurs enfants (masculine, plural/ masculin, pluriel) sont grands. / Their children are big.
Ta mère (feminine, singular/féminin, singulier) s’appelle Renée (feminine, singular/féminin, singulier) . / Your mother is named Renée.
Leurs enfants (masculine, plural/ masculin, pluriel) sont grands. / Their children are big.
| MASCULINE SINGULAR | FEMININE SINGULAR | PLURAL | ENGLISH |
|---|---|---|---|
| mon | ma | mes | my |
| ton | ta | tes | your (familiar) |
| son | sa | ses | his or her or its |
| notre | notre | nos | our |
| votre | votre | vos | your (formal or plural) |
| leur | leur | leurs | their |
Note that the possessive adjective sa has three potential translations in English: his, her, or its. To determine which meaning is intended, you must look at the context.
We use mon, ton and son with feminine singular nouns that begin with a vowel or with an h.
Example: Mon amie. / My (feminine) friend.
Exercise: Les Adjectifs Possessifs
Look up the words you don’t know; remember that usually feminine ends with an “e”, and plural usually ends with an “s”.
Word choice
Exercise: Mes choses/My things
Use the “Possessive Adjective” list above to fill in the blanks.
Look up the words you don’t know; remember that usually feminine ends with an “e”, and plural usually ends with an “s”.
Fill in the Blanks
This section includes content derived from Français Interactif, originally released under CC BY 3.0, Liberté, originally released under CC BY-NC-SA, and Tex’s French Grammar, originally released under CC BY 3.0.
