The first one is the determinant le, la, or les. Watch my video lesson below or click here to see it on YouTube. ), it’s a pronoun, not an adjective. French possessive adjectives are directly placed in front of the noun or adjective. 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. This means that there are different possessive adjectives for masculine, feminine, and plural nouns. As you noticed from the table above, French possessive pronouns are composed of two words. Like possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns in French are assigned according to the gender and number of the noun and who’s doing the possessing. The rules are different in French and in English. les miennes. French possessive pronouns are the equivalent of mine, yours, its, ours, theirs. It’s counterintuitive, it sounds weird in English, but it is correct in French. 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. Possessive adjective + noun can be replaced by a possessive pronoun. FRENCH PROGRAM FOR SELF-LEARNERS ‼ Possessive pronouns agree with nouns in number and gender. The possessive pronouns have, as in French and German, different forms depending on the the number and gender of the noun. French uses a different word order than the one we are accustomed to, and possessive adjectives and pronouns also follow a different … French and English possessive pronouns are very similar in usage. in place of . Used in place of an article, not with one. Let's examine the four ways to say 'mine.' When the possessive pronoun is preceded by the prepositions à or de, the preposition contracts with the definite article le, la, or les. Pierre aime sa voiture aussi.Pierre likes his car too. Possessive adjectives are the words used . )J’espère que vous pourrez être des nôtres samedi soir. We have handled two examples where the gender was relevant. le tien. 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. What are French Pronouns? Their usage is similar to English, but there are some differences in form. French possessive pronouns vary in gender and in number. 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. ThoughtCo. By être à + noun (or disjunctive pronoun) or appartenir à + noun (or disjunctive pronoun): Ce livre est à moi! "How and When to Use French Possessive Pronouns." 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 caniche appartient à Louise. le mien. mas… )J’aime bien notre maison, mais franchement, j’envie la leur! Ce livre est à lui - This book is his C'est un ami à moi - He's a friend of mine http://www.frenchspanishonline.com/magazine/?p=3502 Possessive Pronouns in French Possession is generally indicated by one of three methods in French: 1. The French possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives are slightly more complex than their English counterparts. By être à + noun (or disjunctive pronoun) or appartenir à + noun (or disjunctive pronoun): Ce livre est à moi! List of French Pronouns. This car is acting up again! In French, you need to focus on the dog! 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. I want his. 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. Think about the logic of this and you'll see it makes perfect sense. ‼ Possessive pronouns are always preceded by definite… . 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. Possession is generally indicated by one of three methods in French: 1. les miens. Possessive pronouns are the words that replace nouns modified by possessive adjectives. la mienne. Regarde, la voiture de quelqu'un est en train d'être mise à la fourrière. (I met your grandparents.). 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. (That book is mine!) tbs-sct.gc.ca. (The motor has stalled! 3. Possessive pronouns replace nouns that are modified by a possessive adjective or other possessive construction or idea. The gender and number of the object possessed determine which form to use. (That poodle belongs to Louise.). something belongs. 1. le mien can replace any masculine singular nominal group. (I have lost my keys. (I have my likes, and she has hers. The pronoun that would replace this whole phrase is "his," as in: Which book do you want? For instance, in English, the possessive pronouns are a mine, yours, his, her, its, ours, theirs : It’s my fault not yours! This way you’ll have … 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. tbs-sct.gc.ca. In this case la montre is singular, so we have to use la sienne. The contractions are explained below in parentheses. Ce caniche appartient à Louise. In French the definite article le, la, les is always used with a possessive pronoun. 2. la mienne any feminine singular nominal group. In French, possessive pronouns vary in form depending on the gender and number of the noun they replace. 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"). 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. 2. 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. Many translated example sentences containing "possessive pronoun" – French-English dictionary and search engine for French translations. Showing top 8 worksheets in the category - French Possessive Pronoun. Jean is a man, but the watch ( la montre) is feminine. The gender and number of the possessive pronoun must agree with the gender and number of the noun possessed, not that of the possessor. 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. The choice of the pronoun corresponds to the grammatical person and the number of the owner. Pierre aime son livre.Pierre likes his book. (I like our house, but frankly, I am jealous of theirs!). Note that when a possessive replaces a noun altogether (yours, his, hers, etc. https://www.thoughtco.com/french-possessive-pronouns-1368931 (accessed April 16, 2021). Look, someone's car is getting towed! ), One North College StNorthfield, MN 55057USA, French and Francophone Studies pages maintained by. Watch for the idiomatic expression, “faire des siennes,” which means “to act up,” “to pull its old tricks”: Le moteur a calé! (They are coming in their car. http://LFWA.COM presents French Masculine Singular POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS: mine, yours, his, hers, etc. ThoughtCo. 2. 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 Characteristics of French possessive adjectives. Cette voiture fait encore des siennes! French adjectives change to reflect the gender and number of the noun they’re describing. )J’ai fait la connaissance de tes grands-parents. les tiens. You have to change your focus. (2020, August 26). Possessive pronouns agree in number and gender with the noun they represent. So, when talking about a woman, you’d say “son chien” (her male dog). How and When to Use French Possessive Pronouns. French possessive pronouns are used to replace nouns so that you can indicate to whom or to what those nouns belong. 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. 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. 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. yours. There are a total of 15 different French possessive adjectives depending on the combination of possessor and … (That poodle belongs to Louise.) They have to correspond with the gender and number of the possessed noun. to what . Marie aime son livre aussi.Marie likes her book too. In English we may use an apostrophe and an ‐ s to show that something belongs to someone. The second one marks the possessive. Must agree with the possessed noun in number and sometimes gender. articles to indicate . Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/french-possessive-pronouns-1368931. Possession, Possessive Pronouns. "How and When to Use French Possessive Pronouns." Pronouns are words that we use to replace nouns in a sentence, and they can be quite tricky to get the hang of. For what it’s worth, here is the list of French pronouns. If you consider the phrase "his book," "his" is a possessive adjective modifying the noun "book." (That book is mine! ), au lieu d'ut iliser des pronoms tels que il et el le, il s et e ll es (et, en anglais, « he. 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. 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 … As the possessive adjective in French is easy to use, so is the pronoun . 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. 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. The choice of its gender and number corresponds to the gender and number of the object that is owned. Placed directly in front of a noun or an adjective + noun. We don't care about the number and gender of the person, only the number and gender of the thing being possessed: la voiture. la tienne. 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. The following table lists the possessive pronouns by the possessor they indicate: possessed singular plural … mine. The possessive adjective always comes before the noun which is “owned,” just like in English. 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. ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/french-possessive-pronouns-1368931. French Possessive Adjectives - Adjectifs possessifs. In French, it’s exactly the other way around… What matter is the number and gender ofthe dog(s), not the owner! 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). 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. How Possessive Adjectives accord with their nouns. The person refers to the owner or possessor. In terms of agreeing in gender and number, the owner's gender and number are irrelevant. or . 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. )Ils viennent dans leur voiture. Because la montre is feminine, you have to use a feminine possessive pronoun. These forms are spelled out in the table of possessive pronouns at the bottom of this page. The following table shows the forms of French … French possessive pronouns made easy! But it has to be the third person pronoun to agree with the owner. to whom . Learn more about possessive, demonstrative, interrogative and regular adjectives and master their tricky p… A possessive pronoun can be used to replace it when it is used together with a noun in a … (I hope you will be able to join us [be one of us] this Saturday evening. However, possessive pronouns are actually a little more involved because plural possessive pronouns are also differentiated by gender. In French, possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives must agree, in number and gender, with the thing(s) being possessed. How to express possession in French video part 2/2 (mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, yours, theirs) ThoughtCo. By possessive pronouns. Possessive pronouns Possessive pronouns – le mien – la mienne – les miennes = mine How do possessive pronouns work in French?