1) French has many more possessives than English, because there are different forms not only for grammatical person and number, but sometimes also the gender and the first letter of the thing possessed. All of the different forms are summarized in the table at the bottom of the page and are explained in detail in the other pages of this lesson.
2) When describing two or more nouns in French, a possessive adjective must be used in front of each one:
son frère et sa sœur
his brother and sister
ma tante et mon oncle
my aunt and uncle
3) The possessive adjective is almost never used with body parts in French. You can't say "my hand" or "my hair." Instead, the French use pronominal verbs to show possession with body parts:
Je me suis cassé la jambe
I broke my leg (literally, I broke the leg of myself).
Il se lave les cheveux
He's washing his hair (literally, He's washing the hair of himself).
Click the links below for detailed information about French possessive adjectives.
| Singular | Plural | ||||
| English | Masculine | Feminine | Before vowel | ||
| my | mon | ma | mon | mes | |
| your (tu form) | ton | ta | ton | tes | |
| his, her, its | son | sa | son | ses | |
| our | notre | notre | notre | nos | |
| your (vous form) | votre | votre | votre | vos | |
| their | leur | leur | leur | leurs | |
Test on French possessive adjectives
Related lessons: French possession
