Possessive pronouns replace nouns that belong to someone. The important thing to keep in mind is that they show gender and number agreement with the noun they replace. Note also that they are never followed directly by a noun.
The different forms a possessive pronoun can take are presented in the following table:
|
Singular |
Plural |
English |
Masculine |
Feminine |
Masculine |
Feminine |
"mine" |
le mien |
la mienne |
les miens |
les miennes |
"yours" (tu) |
le tien |
la tienne |
les tiens |
les tiennes |
"his", "hers", "its" |
le sien |
la sienne |
les siens |
les siennes |
"ours" |
le nôtre |
la nôtre |
les nôtres |
les nôtres |
"yours" (vous) |
le vôtre |
la vôtre |
les vôtres |
les vôtres |
"theirs" |
le leur |
la leur |
les leurs |
les leurs |
- Don't confuse the possessive determiner (notre maison) with the possessive pronoun (la nôtre).
- Never use a noun directly after a possessive pronoun. You can write notre maison, c'est la nôtre, but NOT la nôtre maison.