Un 2.5

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives, also known as possessive determiners, are used to indicate the relationship between a noun and its ‘possessor’, i.e. between a noun and another noun.

Explanation

Exercises

Possessive Adjectives – Les adjectifs possessifs

Although the grammatical function does not necessarily need to involve actual ‘possession’, but rather some sort of relationship between nouns, this type of adjectives are traditionally categorized as possessive adjectives. When using a possessive adjective, the ‘possessor’ does not always need to be explicitly explained or previously mentioned, as it can often be inferred based on the form chosen.

e.g.

That’s their pen.

That’s my pen.

In French, possessive adjectives are placed in front of their noun and replace that noun’s article.

e.g.

C’est leur stylo.	That’s their pen.
C’est mon stylo.	That’s my pen.

Corresponding Subject Pronoun	Singular Masculine	Singular Feminine	*Singular before vowel/unaspirated ‘h’	Plural
je	mon	ma	mon	mes
tu	ton	ta	ton	tes
il elle on	son	sa	son	ses
nous	notre	notre	notre	nos
vous	votre	votre	votre	vos
ils elles	leur	leur	leur	leurs

As adjectives, possessive adjectives indicate grammatical gender and grammatical number. The choice of a possessive adjective’s grammatical gender is dependant on the noun that it is attached to, rather than the grammatical gender of the possessor. This is most obvious with singular nouns.

e.g.

C’est mon sac à dos.	This is my backpack.
C’est ma classe.	This is my class.

As such, the 3rd person singular forms ‘son’ and ‘sa’ can both be translated into English as ‘his’, ‘her’ or ‘its’, according to the sentence.

e.g.

L’enseignante a son livre.	The teacher has his/her book.
L’enseignante a sa réponse.	The teacher has his/her answer.

Different forms are used to reflect the grammatical number of the noun.

e.g.

C’est ma question.	This is my question.
Ce sont mes questions.	These are my questions.

The forms of possessive adjectives also differentiate the grammatical person (1st, 2nd, 3rd) and grammatical number (sg. or pl.) of the possessor.

e.g.

C’est ma spécialisation.	This is my specialty.
C’est notre spécialisation.	This is our specialty.
C’est ta spécialisation.	This is your specialty. (sg.)
C’est votre spécialisation.	This is your specialty. (pl.)

For feminine nouns in the singular that begin with a vowel or unaspirated ‘h’, the masculine singular possessive adjective (‘mon’, ‘ton’ or ‘son’) is used, rather than the corresponding ‘ma’, ‘ta’ and ‘sa’ forms. This is done for pronunciation purposes.

e.g.

C’est une salle de classe. / C’est ma salle de classe.	This is a classroom. / This is my classroom.
C’est une université. / C’est mon université.	This is a university. / This is my university.

For the forms corresponding to the subject pronouns ‘tu’ and ‘vous’, when addressing a single person, formality needs to be taken into account, just as would be done with these two subject pronouns.

e.g.

C’est ton bureau.	This is your office. (informal)
C’est votre bureau.	This is your office. (formal)

Lesson exercises