Les Adjectifs possessifs

Possessive adjectives (sometimes called possessive articles) are used to show ownership or possession. They are adjectives because they agree in gender and number with the noun they introduce.

MY MonMaMes To express “my” use mon, ma or mes. Look at the examples: Le chat (the cat)mon chat (my cat) La voiture (the car)ma voiture (my car) Les chats (the cats)mes chats (my cats) Les voitures (the cars)mes voitures (my cars) Mon is for masculine nouns. Ma is for feminine nouns. Mes is for plural nouns – masculine and/or feminine Try these: my dog _________________ My house ________________ My sisters _______________ My parents ________________ My brother ___________

Your Tontates To express your, use ton, ta, tes. Look at the examples: Le livre (the book)ton livre (your book) La famille (the family)ta famille (your family) Les crayons (the pencils)tes crayons (your pencils) Ton is for masculine nouns. Ta is for feminine nouns Tes is for plural nouns. Try these: your cat _________________ your car _________________ your friends________________

His and her His and her can sometimes be confusing. This possessive relies on WHAT is being owned, not WHO owns it. Son jardin – his yard or her yard. (It does not matter whether the yard belongs to a man or woman. We use SON because the word “jardin” is masculine.) Le jardin (the yard)son jardin (his/her yard) La soeur (the sister)sa soeur (his/her sister) Les cousins (the cousins)ses cousins (his/her cousins) Son is for masculine nouns Sa is for feminine nouns Ses is for plural nouns Try these: her binder ______________ his aunt ________________ her parents _____________

Summary – so far The 3 ways to say “my” are: The 3 ways to say “your” are: The 3 ways to say “his/her” are: These possessive determiners must agree with:

The Exception!! Ah yes, there is always an exception… Mon, Ton and Son are used with masculine, singular nouns BUT… They must also be used with ANY singular noun that starts with a VOWEL –masculine and feminine Mon ami (my friend –guy)Mon amie (my friend – girl)

OUR To express “our” in French, use notre, nos With this set, we do not have to be concerned with masculine or feminine words – only singular and plural. Notre – singular Nos – plural Our carnotre voiture Our carsnos voitures Try these: Our dog______________________ Our parents___________________ Our trees_____________________ Our cousin____________________

YOUR (y’alls) To express “y’alls” in French, use votre, vos With this set, we do not have to be concerned with masculine or feminine words – only singular and plural. Votre – singular Vos - plural Your car (y’alls car) – votre voiture Your cars (y’alls cars) – vos voitures Try these: Your cat______________________ Your brothers___________________ Your flowers_____________________ Your street___________________

Their To express THEIR in French, use leur or leurs. With this set, we do not have to be concerned with masculine or feminine words – only singular and plural. leur – singular leurs - plural Their car – leur voiture Their cars – leurs voitures Try these: Their sisters______________________ Their neighborhood___________________ Their balcony_____________________ Their trees___________________