LFC: Possessive Adjectives

Possessive Adjectives

You already know how to say "my" and "your" (tu form) in French. Now, we will look at the rest of the terms.

Remember, these possessive adjectives also have masculine, feminine, and plural forms.  

   
possessive adjectives in all forms
my
(m) mon mon père my father
(f) ma ma mère my mother
(pl) mes mes soeurs  my sisters
your (tu form)
(m) ton ton père your father
(f) ta ta mère your mother
(pl) tes tes soeurs  your sisters
   

As you can see, père is masculine, so it goes with the masculine form of the possessive adjective. Mère is feminine, so it goes with ma or ta and soeurs is plural, so you must use the plural possessive adjective.

   
Chart of plural possessive adjectives
my your (tu) his/her our your (vous) their
(m) mon ton son notre votre leur
(f) ma ta sa notre votre leur
(pl) mes tes ses nos vos leurs
   

 

Click here to hear the possessive adjectives.  

Examples

Possessive adjectives with a masculine noun:

French possessive adjectives with translations and an illustration of a person hugging a dog; transcription below image

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French possessive adjectives with translations and an illustration of a person hugging a dog.

le chien

mon chien - my dog

ton chien - your dog

son chien his dog/her dog

notre chien - our dog

votre chien - your dog

leur chien- their dog

Possessive adjectives with a feminine noun:

A chart illustrating French possessive terms for "mother" with translations; full description below image

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A chart illustrating French possessive terms for "mother" with translations.

la mère

ma mère - my mother

ta mère - your mother

sa mère - his mother / her mother

notre mère - our mother

votre mère - your mother

leur mère - their mother

 

Possessive adjectives with a plural noun:

Illustration of French possessive adjectives with translations, featuring two friends; full description below image

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Illustration of French possessive adjectives with translations, featuring a central cartoon image of two smiling people.

les amis

mes amis - my friends

tes amis - your friends

ses amis - his friends/her friends

nos amis - our friends

vos amis - your friends

leurs amis - their friends

*Note: ma / ta / sa cannot precede a word that begins with a vowel or silent h. In this case, default to the masculine form.