Possessive Adjectives in French: Rules, Conjugation & Examples

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives (adjectives possessives in French) are a type of adjectives that are used to express possession or ownership. Possessive adjectives are my, your, his, her, our, and their, (1) which you will learn in French, for example,

My shoe.

My shoes.

Your shoe.

Their school.

His game.

In French, they accompany the noun with which they agree in gender and number.

Possessive adjectives in French

Possessive adjectives in French agree with the person that owns the thing, in the same way as in English, for example, if you talk about yourself you say “My bag”, if you talk about the second person of the singular you say “Your bag”, it it’s a female you say “her bag” and so on.

Pronoun	Masculine	Femenine	Plural	Meaning
Je (I)	Mon	Ma	Mes	My
Tu (You)	Ton	Ta	Tes	Your
Ils/elle (He/she)	Son	Sa	Ses	His/Her
Nous (We)	Notre	Notre	Nos	Our
Vous (You)	Votre	Votre	Vos	Your
Ils/elles(They)	Leur	Leur	Leurs	Their

Let’s see their explanation

Agreement in gender. They depend on the gender of the word they refer to, let’s remember that nouns can be feminine or masculine in French.

Ton professeur. – Your professor. (male)

Ta professeure. -Your professor (female)

Sa soeur. – His or her sister (Female)

Sa voiture. – His or her car. (voiture is a female noun)

Son crayon.- His pencil. (Crayon is a male noun)

Exception: Notre, votre and leur don’t change with gender.

Notre professeur. – Our professor. (male)

Notre proffeseure. – Our professor. (female)

Votre professeur – Your professor. (male)

Votre professeure . Your professor. (female)

Leur professeur. – Their professor. (male)

Leur professeure. – Their professor. (female)

Agreement in number. They also agree in number, in English you only use one possessive adjective no mater the number or amount of the things you’re referring to.

For example, in English you say “your shirt”(one shirt) and “your shirts” (two or more shirts), in both cases the possessive adjective is the same: “Your”.

In French it would be:

Ta chemise. – Your shirt.

Tes chemises. – Your shirts.

Other examples:

Ton doigt. – Your finger.

Tes doigts. – Your fingers.

Notre ami. – Our friend.

Nos amies. – Our friends.

Related: The plural in French

The masculine form of the adjective is used with masculine words or nouns and with words that begin with a vowel or silent h (even if the word is feminine).

For example, all the following words are feminine, but they are accompanied by mon because they start with a vowel and the last two with a silent h.

Attention. (f) – Mon attention.

Attitude. (f) – Mon attitude.

Histoire. – Mon histoire.

Hygiène. – Mon hygiène

Examples of possessive adjectives in French

Mon mari est ici. – My husband is here
Ma voiture est blanche. – My car is white. (Voiture or car is a feminine pronoun in French).
Mes amis viennent aujourd’hui. – My friends are coming today.
Ton livre est bon. Your book is good.
Ta famille est belle. – Your family is beautiful.
Tes yeux sont gris. – Your eyes are gray.
Son travail est en France. – His job is in France.
Sa determination est incroyable. – His determination is incredible.
Leurs enfants sont calmes. – Their children are calm.
Notre avion part plus tard. Our plane leaves later.
Nous avons nos raisons de le faire. – We have our reasons to do it.
Votre élève est intélligent. – Your student is intelligent.
Vos élèves sont intelligents. – Your students are intelligent.