Bonjour! In today’s French lesson, nous allons apprendre les adjectifs possessifs, possessive adjectives.
Les adjectifs possessifs are adjectives that are used to show ownership or possession.
In simple terms, they let you know who a noun belongs to.
For example, in the English sentence “My bag is on the table”, the possessive adjective “My” indicates ownership of the bag and tells you that it belongs to me.
Les Adjectifs Possessifs
In French classes, it is common to hear that les adjectifs possessifs s’accorde avec le nom, this simply means that the adjective agrees with the noun i.e. it changes form to let you know if the noun is masculine, feminine, singular or plural.
Here’s how:
It is important to note that in cases where the adjective qualifies a feminine noun that starts with a vowel, “ma, ta and sa” change to “mon, ton et son”.
Par example:
Mon ami = My friend (masculine)
Mon amie = My friend (feminine)
This is because you simply cannot say “m’amie”
How To Use Les Adjectifs Possessifs in a Sentence
a. Always place your possessive adjective in front of the noun or adjective + noun
Par exemple,
- Mon sac – My bag
- Mon beau sac – My beautiful bag
- Sa fille – His/her daughter
- Sa petite fille – His/her beautiful daughter (Sa qualifies the noun fille which is feminine, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a man or woman talking, just that they are talking about a female child)
- Vos robes – Your gowns
- Vos robes vertes – Your green gowns
The most important thing to note is that the possessive adjective comes before the noun.
b. Use les adjectifs possessifs in place of an article not with an article. You cannot say “le mon sac” 😁
c. When there is a list of nouns and you want to use possessive adjectives, place one before each noun on the list.
Par exemple,
- Mon père, ma mère, mon frère et ma soeur – My father, my mother, my brother and my sister
- Mon sac et mes livres – My bag and my textbooks
Now wasn’t that easy?
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