9 - Possession
of
To say possession, we can use the prepositional equivalent of “of”, which is just the partitive article in french.
And here are some examples:
- “Le chapeau de Catherine” ⇒ Catherine’s hat
- “L’orange d’Antoine” → Antoine’s orange
- “La chambre des enfants” → The children’s bedroom
- “La chair du chien” → The flesh of the dog
Possessive adjectives
French possessive adjectives will change depending on the gender of the noun they're describing, but the general form depends on the subject number and plurality.
It’s just like in hindi and spanish where the possessed object is what decides the gender ending of the possessive adjective
- Subject decides form
- Object gender decides gendered version of form
| Possessor | Masculine Singular | Feminine Singular | Plural (M/F) |
|---|---|---|---|
| je (I) | mon | ma | mes |
| tu (you, informal) | ton | ta | tes |
| il/elle/on (he/she/one) | son | sa | ses |
| nous (we) | notre | notre | nos |
| vous (you, formal/plural) | votre | votre | vos |
| ils/elles (they) | leur | leur | leurs |
however, there are times when the gender of the possessed object does not matter and therefore does not change the ending - in these three situations:
- The noun being possessed starts with a vowel, like “l’orange.” This means that you would use the masculine version - instead of “ma orange”, it would be “mon orange”
- For the 1st person plural (nous) and 2nd person formal/plural (vous), the gender of the object does not change the ending.
The possessive adjectives mon, ton, and son become mon', ton', and son' before a feminine singular noun that begins with a vowel or a mute h. This is for ease of pronunciation.
Possesive pronouns
Possessive pronouns are the quivalent of "mine", "yours", "his", "hers", "ours", "yours", "theirs" in english, which are just the noun versions of the possessive adjectives.
| Possessor | Masculine Singular | Feminine Singular | Masculine Plural | Feminine Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je (I) | le mien | la mienne | les miens | les miennes |
| tu (you, informal) | le tien | la tienne | les tiens | les tiennes |
| il/elle/on (he/she/one) | le sien | la sienne | les siens | les siennes |
| nous (we) | le nôtre | la nôtre | les nôtres | les nôtres |
| vous (you, formal/plural) | le vôtre | la vôtre | les vôtres | les vôtres |
| ils/elles (they) | le leur | la leur | les leurs | les leurs |