1. Possessive Adjectives
D’accord 1 Lesson 3A.2

2. Point de départ
In both English and French, possessive adjectives express ownership or possession.

3. The French equivalents of my and your have the following forms:
Masculine
Feminine
mon cousin—my cousin
mon frère—my brother
mon père—my father
ton cousin—your cousin
ton frère—your brother
ton père—your father
ma cousine
ma sœur
ma mère
ta cousine—your cousin
ta sœur—your sister
ta mère—your mother
*The feminine ma and ta will become mon or ton before a vowel sound.

5. Possessive adjectives are always placed before the nouns they modify.
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6. In French, unlike English, possessive adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify.
Note that notre, votre, and leur agree in number only.

7. The masculine singular forms mon, ton, and son are used with feminine singular nouns that begin with a vowel sound.
The choice of son, sa, and ses depends on the gender and number of the noun possessed, not the gender and number of the owner. Context usually makes the meaning clear.

8. Possession with de
In English, you use ’s to express relationships or ownership. In French, use de (d’) + [the noun or proper name] instead.

9. Possession with de (continued)
When the preposition de is followed by the definite articles le and les, they contract to form du and des, respectively. There is no contraction when de is followed by la and I’.