Possessive Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives
French possessives (mon, ton, son...) agree with the noun being possessed, not with the owner — the opposite logic from what English speakers instinctively expect from 'his' and 'her'.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Agreement with the thing owned, not the owner
son livre (his book or her book), sa maison (his house or her house)
his book or her book, his house or her house
This is the single biggest trap for English speakers: son/sa/ses agree with the gender of the noun that follows, not the gender of the owner. son livre can mean 'his book' or 'her book' — you cannot tell the owner's gender from the possessive alone. English his/her, by contrast, marks the owner's gender directly and ignores the gender of the thing owned (which English nouns don't even have), so this is a genuinely different logic to internalize, not a direct swap.
The full paradigm
mon/ma/mes, ton/ta/tes, son/sa/ses, notre/nos, votre/vos, leur/leurs
my, your (informal), his/her, our, your (formal/plural), their
Singular owners (my/your/his-her) have three forms each — masculine singular, feminine singular, and plural — while plural owners (our/your/their) only distinguish singular vs. plural, not gender: notre chien / notre maison (masc./fem. both notre), nos chiens (plural). English 'my/your/our/their' never changes shape at all, so every one of these agreement patterns is new territory.
mon, not ma, before a feminine noun starting with a vowel
mon amie (my [female] friend) — not ma amie
my [female] friend
For euphony, the masculine forms mon/ton/son are used even before a feminine noun if that noun starts with a vowel sound: mon amie, ton école, son histoire. This is purely about avoiding two vowel sounds colliding — the noun is still grammatically feminine.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| mon père | mohn pair | my father |
| ma mère | mah mair | my mother |
| mes parents | may pah-RAHN | my parents |
| ton frère | tohn frair | your brother (informal) |
| ta sœur | tah suhr | your sister (informal) |
| son livre | sohn LEE-vruh | his / her book |
| sa maison | sah may-ZOHN | his / her house |
| notre famille | NOH-truh fah-MEE | our family |
| votre chien | VOH-truh shee-AHN | your dog (formal/plural) |
| leur enfant | luhr ahn-FAHN | their child |
| leurs enfants | luhr zahn-FAHN | their children |
| mon amie | moh nah-MEE | my [female] friend |