Use French possessive adjectives to say who something belongs to. Possessive adjectives replace articles. In English we would say: MY, YOUR, HIS, HER, OUR and THEIR. Watch my video lesson on possessive adjectives below, and you can download a free PDF of this lesson guide in my private French Grammar Library.
There are more possessive adjectives in French than in English. It all goes back to gender and number, which are always important in French.
| When talking about body parts we hardly ever use possessive adjectives. For example, if you want to say “My head hurts” you would say “J’ai mal à la tête”. |
| If a feminine noun begins with a vowel you have to use the masculine possessive adjective before it. For example, even though “araignée = spider” is a feminine noun, if it is MY spider I have to say MON araignée so that it will sound pretty when spoken. |
| The tricky thing about French possessives is that the gender of the noun will determine which adjective needs to be used. For example, “stylo” is masculine. It’s masculine no matter if it belongs to HIM or HER. That’s why we say SON stylo to mean HIS pen and SON stylo to mean HER pen. |
| English | Masculine Singular | Feminine Singular | Before a vowel | Plural |
| my | mon | ma | mon mon amie | mes |
| your (tu) | ton | ta | ton ton amie | tes |
| his / her / its | son | sa | son son amie | ses |
| our | notre | notre | notre | nos |
| your (vous) | votre | votre | votre | vos |
| their | leur | leur | leur | leurs |
Examples
| my brother | mon frère | my sister | ma soeur |
| your brother | ton frère | your sister | ta soeur |
| his brother | son frère | his sister | sa soeur |
| her brother | son frère | her sister | sa soeur |
| our brother | notre frère | our sister | notre soeur |
| your brother | votre frère | your sister | votre soeur |
| their brother | leur frère | their sister | leur soeur |
| my mom | ma maman | my dad | mon papa |
| your mom | ta maman | your dad | ton papa |
| his mom | sa maman | his dad | son papa |
| her mom | sa maman | her dad | son papa |
| our mom | notre maman | our dad | notre papa |
| your mom | votre maman | your dad | votre papa |
| their mom | leur maman | their dad | leur papa |
| my grandparents | mes grands-parents |
| your grandparents | tes grands-parents |
| his grandparents | ses grands-parents |
| her grandparents | ses grands-parents |
| our grandparents | nos grands-parents |
| your grandparents | vos grands-parents |
| their grandparents | leurs grands-parents |
