possession
French Possessive Adjectives, Pronouns, Prepositions
Adjectifs, pronoms et prépositions possessifs
Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but when it comes to grammar, expressing ownership leaves no room for interpretation. French expresses possession with adjectives, pronouns, and even two different prepositions – each construction offers a slightly different take on who owns what.
First person singular | First person plural | |
Second person singular | Second person plural | |
Third person singular | Third person plural |
Sometimes the choice between de and du, de la, des is simply a question of whether you're describing a noun or indicating a possessor.
Les enfants au resto – Possessives Quiz
Les enfants au resto
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Nos voisins et nous – Possessives Quiz
Nos voisins et nous
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Possession
French has four different possessive constructions, which can seem daunting until you realize that English does too - you've probably just never thought about them before.
B1 - Intermediate French • possession
Possessive à
To emphasize to whom something belongs, you can use the possessive à in one of three constructions.
B1 - Intermediate French • possession • prepositions
Possessive de
In English, we use 's (apostrophe s) to indicate that one noun possesses another. The French equivalent is the preposition de, with the order of the nouns reversed.
A2 - Low-Intermediate French • possession • prepositions • word order
Possessive Adjectives
French possessive adjectives (mon, ma, mes, ton, ta ...) are used in front of nouns to indicate to whom or to what those nouns belong. They are considerably more complicated than English possessive adjectives because French has several different forms depending on the gender and number of the possessed noun.
A2 - Low-Intermediate French • adjectives • agreement • possession
Possessive Adjectives Quiz – Ma (belle) famille
Ma (belle) famille
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Possessive Adjectives Quiz – Où sont mes chaussures ?
Où sont mes chaussures ?
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Possessive Adjectives Quiz: L’anniversaire de Thomas
L'anniversaire de Thomas
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