POSSESSIVE DETERMINERS
The possessive determiners serve to express ownership or possession (hence the name). They are also often called possessive adjectives because they agree in gender and number with the noun they introduce.
masculine singular | feminine singular | plural | English translation |
mon | ma | mes | my |
ton | ta | tes | your (familiar) |
son | sa | ses | his/her/its |
notre | notre | nos | our |
votre | votre | vos | your (plural or formal) |
leur | leur | leurs | their |
Possessive articles, like all articles, must agree with the noun they modify. So if the noun is feminine, the possessive article must be feminine too. In the following examples, the gender and the number of the nouns will be indicated in parentheses. Note that sa has three potential translations: his/her/its. The context will tell you which meaning is intended.
For example:
Paul présente sa famille (f/s) : “Voici mon frère (m/s), Jo, et ma soeur (f/s), Kimi, avec ses enfants (m/p) et leur chien (m/s) Fido. Notre famille (f/s) est formidable.”