Possessive Adjectives
संबंधवाचक विशेषण
French possessives (mon, ton, son...) agree with the noun being possessed, not with the owner — and this is exactly how Hindi possessives already work too (मेरा भाई / मेरी बहन), so the logic here isn't new at all, just applied with new French words.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Agreement with the thing owned, not the owner — already Hindi's own habit
son livre (his book or her book), sa maison (his house or her house)
उसका भाई (his/her brother) / उसकी बहन (his/her sister) — मेरा/मेरी जैसा ही भेद
This trips up English speakers constantly: 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. Hindi already works exactly this way: उसका भाई ('his/her brother') and उसकी बहन ('his/her sister') both use उसका/उसकी based on the gender of भाई/बहन (the thing possessed), not the gender of उस (the owner) — मेरा, तेरा, उसका all follow the identical logic. This is one of the rare French grammar points a Hindi speaker can pick up almost for free, since the underlying agreement principle — possessive agrees with the possession — is already fully internalized.
The full paradigm — a familiar three-way agreement, new vocabulary
mon/ma/mes, ton/ta/tes, son/sa/ses, notre/nos, votre/vos, leur/leurs
मेरा/मेरी/मेरे, तेरा/तेरी/तेरे, उसका/उसकी/उसके, हमारा/हमारी/हमारे, आपका/आपकी/आपके, उनका/उनकी/उनके
Singular owners (my/your/his-her) have three forms each — masculine singular, feminine singular, and plural — while plural owners (our/your/their) in French only distinguish singular vs. plural, not gender: notre chien / notre maison (masc./fem. both notre), nos chiens (plural). Hindi keeps the full three-way agreement even for plural owners — हमारा भाई, हमारी बहन, हमारे भाई-बहन all vary by gender and number of what's possessed — so French's collapse to a single notre/votre/leur for plural owners is actually a slight simplification compared to what Hindi already does, not an added complication.
mon, not ma, before a feminine noun starting with a vowel — a French-only euphony rule
mon amie (my [female] friend) — not ma amie
मेरी सहेली (हिंदी में लिंग हमेशा एक जैसा रहता है, स्वर से पहले कोई बदलाव नहीं)
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 in French pronunciation — Hindi possessives have no equivalent sound-driven override; मेरी सहेली stays मेरी regardless of what sound सहेली starts with, so this specific exception is a French-only wrinkle with no Hindi habit to help or hinder you.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
- Hindi
- मेरे पिताmere pitā
- English
- my father
- Hindi
- मेरी माँmerī māñ
- English
- my mother
- Hindi
- मेरे माता-पिताmere mātā-pitā
- English
- my parents
- Hindi
- तेरा भाईterā bhāī
- English
- your brother (informal)
- Hindi
- तेरी बहनterī bahan
- English
- your sister (informal)
- Hindi
- उसकी किताबuskī kitāb
- English
- his / her book
- Hindi
- उसका घरuskā ghar
- English
- his / her house
- Hindi
- हमारा परिवारhamārā parivār
- English
- our family
- Hindi
- आपका कुत्ताāpkā kuttā
- English
- your dog (formal/plural)
- Hindi
- उनका बच्चाunkā baccā
- English
- their child
- Hindi
- उनके बच्चेunke bacce
- English
- their children
- Hindi
- मेरी सहेलीmerī sahelī
- English
- my [female] friend