Mon, ma, mes: the possessive adjectives

Mon père, ma mère, mes parents: “my” has three shapes

“My” changes with the noun that follows it, exactly like an article: mon before a masculine singular noun (mon père, mon frère), ma before a feminine singular noun (ma mère, ma sœur), mes before any plural (mes parents, mes sœurs). The same three shapes exist for “your” when you say tu – ton, ta, tes – and for “his / her” – son, sa, ses. Before a vowel the plural forms link: mes amis is “mé-zami”, and mon links too: mon ami is “mon-nami”.

Mon père est médecin, ma mère est journaliste et mes sœurs sont étudiantes.My father is a doctor, my mother is a journalist and my sisters are students.

Son, sa, ses: his or her – the noun decides, not the owner

This is the rule that trips up English speakers: son, sa, ses agree with the thing owned, not with the owner. Sa mère is “his mother” AND “her mother” – sa because mère is feminine. Son frère is “his brother” and “her brother” – son because frère is masculine. French never says who the owner is with the possessive; if it matters, the context or a name does it: le frère de Léa. So when you want “her brother”, do not look for a feminine form – look at frère and pick son.

Mon amie: ma becomes mon before a vowel

French hates two vowels bumping into each other. So before a feminine noun that starts with a vowel or a silent h, ma, ta, sa are replaced by mon, ton, son: mon amie (my female friend), ton école, son adresse. The noun stays feminine – you still say mon amie est gentille – only the sound changed. In the plural nothing special happens, because mes, tes, ses already end in a consonant that links: mes amies.

Mon amie Inès habite à Lyon avec son amie Zoé.My friend Inès lives in Lyon with her friend Zoé.

Notre, votre, leur: our, your, their

The plural owners are simpler: one form for both genders in the singular – notre père, notre mère / votre fils, votre fille / leur chat, leur maison – and one form with -s for the plural: nos parents, vos enfants, leurs amis. The liaison is heard on every plural: nos amis “no-zami”, vos enfants “vo-zan-fan”, leurs enfants “leur-zan-fan”. Remember that votre / vos goes with vous, so it is also the polite “your” to one person: Votre mari est là, madame ? And mind leur against leurs: leur appartement means the flat the two of them share, leurs appartements means they each have one.

Nos parents habitent à Lyon ; leur appartement est petit, mais leurs enfants sont contents.Our parents live in Lyon; their flat is small, but their children are happy.