PrepMyFrench
PrepMyFrench
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French possessives agree with the thing owned, not the owner — a critical difference from English. Son livre means "his book" or "her book" because son agrees with livre (masculine), not with the owner's gender. Possessive adjectives (mon, ton, son, notre, votre, leur) precede the noun; possessive pronouns (le mien, le tien, le sien) replace it. Before a feminine noun starting with a vowel, use mon/ton/son instead of ma/ta/sa for pronunciation.
| Owner | Masc. sing. | Fem. sing. | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | mon | ma | mes |
| tu | ton | ta | tes |
| il / elle / on | son | sa | ses |
| nous | notre | notre | nos |
| vous | votre | votre | vos |
| ils / elles | leur | leur | leurs |
possessive agrees in gender/number with the POSSESSED noun
In English, "his" vs "her" tells you the owner's gender. In French, son/sa tells you the noun's gender. Son amie can mean "his friend" or "her friend" — both are correct because amie is feminine but starts with a vowel, so son replaces sa. This requires a fundamental shift in how you think: you must look forward at the noun being owned, not backward at the person who owns it. This is particularly tricky when referring to people.
Marie aime son père.
Marie loves her father.
son = her (père is masculine)
Pierre adore sa mère.
Pierre adores his mother.
sa = his (mère is feminine)
Mon amie est arrivée.
My (female) friend arrived.
mon not ma before a vowel
un de mes + NOUN (plural) | un ami à moi
English often uses the possessive pronoun structure "a friend of mine" or "a colleague of his." In French, you cannot translate this literally as "un ami du mien." Instead, you use either the structure "one of my friends" (un de mes amis / une de mes amies) or the structure "a friend to me" (un ami à moi). Both are extremely common in everyday spoken and written French.
C'est un de mes collègues.
He is a colleague of mine.
Une amie à elle a appelé hier.
A friend of hers called yesterday.
| Owner | Masc. sing. | Fem. sing. | Masc. pl. | Fem. pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| je | le mien | la mienne | les miens | les miennes |
| tu | le tien | la tienne | les tiens | les tiennes |
| il / elle / on | le sien | la sienne | les siens | les siennes |
| nous | le nôtre | la nôtre | les nôtres | les nôtres |
| vous | le vôtre | la vôtre | les vôtres | les vôtres |
| ils / elles | le leur | la leur | les leurs | les leurs |
— C'est ton stylo ? — Oui, c'est le mien.
— Is this your pen? — Yes, it's mine.
Ma voiture est rouge. La sienne est bleue.
My car is red. His/hers is blue.
Vos résultats sont meilleurs que les nôtres.
Your results are better than ours.
J'ai oublié mes clés. Tu peux me prêter les tiennes ?
I forgot my keys. Can you lend me yours?
English speakers instinctively choose his or her based on the owner. In French, a male owner can say sa maison and a female owner can say son jardin — the agreement is with the noun. This is the #1 possessive error for English speakers.
Notre/votre (adjectives) have no accent. Le nôtre/le vôtre (pronouns) have a circumflex on the ô. The pronunciation differs too — the pronoun forms are longer.
Possessives are tested constantly in TEF/TCF comprehension and grammar sections. The most common trap is a sentence where the owner's gender differs from the noun's gender, and you must pick the correct possessive. In writing tasks, using possessive pronouns (le mien, la nôtre) instead of repeating the noun + adjective shows a B1+ range and makes your text more natural.
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No. Son means "his," "her," or "its" depending on context — it agrees with the noun, not the owner. Son chien = his/her dog (chien is masculine). Context tells you who the owner is.
To avoid the hiatus (two vowels colliding). French replaces ma, ta, sa with mon, ton, son before any feminine noun that starts with a vowel or silent h: mon amie, ton école, son habitude.
Leur (no s) is the singular possessive adjective: leur maison = their house. Leurs (with s) is the plural possessive adjective: leurs enfants = their children. As a pronoun, le/la leur and les leurs follow the same singular/plural logic.