POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
In Contextes, you learned a few possessive adjectives with family vocabulary. Mon grand-père,
ma sœur, mes cousins.
Possessive Adjectives
Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Plural
mon ma mes my
ton ta tes your (fam. and sing.)
son sa ses his, her, its
notre notre nos our
votre votre vos your (form. or pl.)
leur leur leurs their
C’est ta sœur? Tes parents?
Voila vos photos.
Possessive adjectives are always placed before the nouns they modify.
C’est ton père?
Is that your father?
Voici notre mère.
Here’s our mother.
Non, c’est mon oncle.
No, that’s my uncle.
Ce sont tes livres?
Are these your books?
In French, unlike English, possessive adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns
they modify.
You already know that there are two ways to express you in French: tu (informal and singular)
and vous (formal or plural). Remember that the possessive adjective must always correspond
to the form of you that is used.
Tu parles à tes amis?
Vous parlez à vos amis?
Note that the forms notre, votre, and leur are the same for both masculine and feminine nouns,
They only change to indicate whether the noun is singular or plural.
The masculine singular forms mon, ton, and son are used with all singular nouns that begin
with a vowel even if they are feminine.
mon amie
my friend
ton école
your school.
son histoire
his story
In English, the possessor’s gender is indicated by the use of the possessive adjectives his or
her. In French however the choice of son, sa and ses depend on the gender and number of the
noun possesed, not the gender and the number of the possessor.
son frère
his/her brother
sa sœur
his/her sister
ses parents
his/her parents
Contex will usually help clarify the meaning of the possessive adjective.
POSSESSION WITH de
In English, you use ‘s to express relationships or ownership. In French, use de (d’) + [the noun
or proper name] instead.
C’est le petit ami d'Elizabeth.
That’s Elizabeth’s boyfriend.
Tu aimes la cousine de Thierry?
Do you like Theirry’s cousin?
C’est la petit ami de ma sœur.
That’s my sister’s boyfriend.
J’ai l’adresse de ses parents.
I have his parents’ address.
When the preposition de is followed by the definite article le and les, they contract to form du
and des, respectively. There is no contraction when de is followed by la or l’.
de + le ---> du de + les ---> des
L’opinion du grand-père est importante.
The grandfather’s opinion is important.
Le nom de l’oiseau, c'est Lulu.
The bird’s name is Lulu.
La fille de voisins a les cheveux châtains.
The neighbor’s daughter has brown hair.
J’ai le nouvel album de la chanteuse française.
I have the French singer’s new album.
DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES
In lesson 1B, we learned that adjectives describe people, places, and things. In French, unlike
English, the forms of most adjectives will vary depending on whether the nouns they describe
are masculine or femine, singular or plural. Furthermore, French adjectives are usually placed
after the noun they modify when they don't directly follow a form of être.
Singular Singular
Masculine←-> Masculine
Noun Adjective
Le père est américain.
The father is American.
Singular Singular
Masculine←-> Masculine
Noun Adjective
As-tu des cours faciles?
Do you have easy classes?
You have already learned several adjectives of nationality and some adjectives to describe your
classes. Here are some adjectives used to describe physical characteristics.
Adjectives of physical description
bleu(e) blue joli(e) pretty
blond(e) blond (hair) laid(e) ugly
brun(e) dark (hair)
châtain brown (hair) noir(e) black
court(e) short petit(e) small, short (stature)
grand(e) tall, big raide straight (hair)
Jeune young vert(e) green
Notice that, in the examples below, the adjectives agree in gender (masculine or feminine) and
number (singular or plural) with the subjects. In general, add -e to make an adjective femine. If
an adjective already ends in an unaccented -e, add nothing. In general, to make an adjective
plural, add -s. If an adjective already ends in -s, add nothing.
Elles sont blondes et petites.
They are blond and short.
Je n’aime pas les cheveux raides.
I don’t like straight hair.
L’examen est long.
The exam is long.
Les tableaux sont laids.
The paintings are ugly.
Use the expression de taille moyenne to describe someone or something of medium size.
Victor est un homme de taille moyenne.
Victor is a man of medium height.
C’est une université de taille moyenne.
It’s a medium-sized university.
The adjective marron is invariable; in other words, it does not agree in gender and number with
the noun it modifies. The adjective châtain is almost exclusively used to describe hair color.
Mon neveu a les yeux marron.
My nephew has brown eyes.
Ma nièce a les cheveux châtain.
My niece has brown hair.
In lesson 1B, you learned that if the masculine singular form of an adjective already ends in -s
(sėnėgalais), you don’t add another one to form the plural. The same is also true for words that
end in -x (roux, vieux).
Some irregular adjectives
Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine
Singular Singular plural Plural
beau belle beaux belles beautiful; handsome
bon bonne bons bonnes good; kind
fier fière fiers fières proud
gros grosse gros grosses fat
heureux heureuse heureux heureuses happy
intellectuel intellectuelle intellectuels intellectuelles intellectual
long longue longs longues long
naïf naïve naïfs naïves naive
roux rousse roux rousses red-haired
vieux vieille vieux vieilles old
The forms of the adjective nouveau (new) follow the same pattern as those of beau.
MASCULINE FEMININE
PLURAL PLURAL
J’ai trois nouveaux stylos. Tu aimes la nouvelle
I have three new pens. horloge?
Do you like the new clock?
Other adjectives that follow the pattern of heureux are curieux (curious), malheureux
(unhappy), nerveux (nervous), and sérieux (serious).
POSITION OF CERTAIN ADJECTIVES
Certain adjectives are usually placed before the noun they modify. These include: beau, bon,
grand, gros, jeune, joli, nouveau, petit, and vieux.
