French possessive adjectives are the words for my, your, his, her, our and their: mon, ma, mes, ton, ta, tes, son, sa, ses, notre, votre, leur and their plurals. The one rule English speakers miss is that they agree with the thing owned, not with the person who owns it, so son, sa and ses can all mean his or her.

Below are the full table, how to choose between son, sa and ses, why you write mon amie and not ma amie, when French uses le or la instead of a possessive, the possessive pronouns (le mien, la nôtre) and the look-alikes that cost marks in writing.

1. The French possessive adjectives table

Pick the row for the owner, then the column for the gender and number of the thing owned:

Owner	Masculine	Feminine	Plural	Example
my	mon	ma	mes	mon frère, ma sœur, mes parents
your (tu)	ton	ta	tes	ton sac, ta clé, tes clés
his, her, its	son	sa	ses	son vélo, sa voiture, ses amis
our	notre	notre	nos	notre maison, nos voisins
your (vous)	votre	votre	vos	votre adresse, vos papiers
their	leur	leur	leurs	leur fils, leurs enfants

Notre, votre and leur have one form for both genders in the singular. Only the plural changes: nos, vos, leurs.

2. Son, sa, ses: agreement with the thing owned

In English, his and her depend on the owner. In French, son, sa and ses depend on the noun that follows:

• Marc aime sa sœur: Marc loves his sister. Sa, because sœur is feminine.
• Julie aime son frère: Julie loves her brother. Son, because frère is masculine.
• Ils ont vendu sa maison: they sold his house, or her house.

The owner's gender never shows. If the sentence leaves a doubt, name the owner (la voiture de Julie) or add à lui or à elle: c'est sa voiture à elle. It works like any other adjective, which takes the gender and number of its noun, as shown on the page about French adjective agreement.

3. Mon amie or ma amie: before a vowel

Before a feminine word that starts with a vowel or a silent h, French uses mon, ton and son instead of ma, ta and sa, so that two vowels do not collide:

• mon amie, ton école, son idée
• mon histoire, ton habitude

The word stays feminine: mon amie Claire est arrivée. You only change the possessive, and you pronounce the n in liaison: mon amie sounds like « mo-na-mie ».

Two details decide it. With an aspirated h, ma stays: ma honte, sa hauteur. And what counts is the word right after the possessive: ma meilleure amie, because meilleure starts with a consonant, but mon ancienne école, because ancienne starts with a vowel.

4. Mes, nos, leurs: one owner or several, one thing or several

The plural forms are used when the things owned are plural, whatever the number of owners: mes livres (my books), nos livres (our books), leurs livres (their books).

With one owner and one thing, use the singular: notre fille (our daughter), leur chien (their dog). With leur, the s appears only when the noun is plural: leur maison, leurs maisons. Do not confuse it with the pronoun leur, placed before a verb, which never takes an s: je leur donne leurs cadeaux. The full rule is on the page about leur or leurs.

5. When French uses le, la, les instead of a possessive

With parts of the body, French usually prefers the article when it is obvious whose body it is, especially with a reflexive verb:

• Je me lave les mains: I wash my hands.
• Elle s'est cassé la jambe: she broke her leg.
• J'ai mal à la tête: my head hurts.
• Lève la main: raise your hand.

The possessive comes back when you describe: ses yeux sont bleus, or elle a les yeux bleus. Writing je me lave mes mains is a typical learner's mistake.

6. French possessive pronouns: le mien, la tienne, les nôtres

The possessive pronoun replaces the possessive and the noun together: c'est mon stylo becomes c'est le mien. It takes the gender and number of the thing owned and always comes with le, la or les:

Owner	Masc. singular	Fem. singular	Masc. plural	Fem. plural
mine	le mien	la mienne	les miens	les miennes
yours (tu)	le tien	la tienne	les tiens	les tiennes
his, hers	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

Watch the circumflex: notre and votre (adjectives) have none, le nôtre and le vôtre (pronouns) have one. Ce n'est pas notre faute, c'est la vôtre. Leur maison est plus grande que la nôtre.

7. Ses or ces, son or sont: the look-alikes

Several possessives sound exactly like other words, so the mistake only shows in writing:

• ses or ces: ses means his or her (il range ses affaires), ces means these or those (ces affaires sont à qui ?).
• son or sont: sont is the verb être. If you can say étaient instead, write sont: ils sont partis, ils étaient partis. The tests are on the page about son or sont.
• sa or ça: ça means cela. Ça me plaît works with cela; sa maison does not.
• leur or leurs: before a verb, leur is a pronoun and never takes an s.

8. Common mistakes with possessive adjectives

• Ma amie, ta école, sa idée: before a vowel, write mon amie, ton école, son idée.
• Choosing son or sa by the owner: Julie et son frère, not sa frère.
• Nôtre maison: the adjective has no circumflex, notre maison.
• Je leurs parle: the pronoun leur never takes an s.
• Je me brosse mes dents: with a reflexive verb, write je me brosse les dents.
• Ces for ses: il a perdu ses clés, his keys, not these keys.

The short version

Choose the possessive by the thing owned: mon, ma, mes; son, sa, ses; leur, leurs. Before a feminine word starting with a vowel, write mon, ton, son. The pronouns take le, la or les, and only nôtre and vôtre carry a circumflex. The look-alikes ses and ces, son and sont, leur and leurs only show their difference on paper, which is exactly where a few sentences of dictation in Apostrophe· will catch them.

Frequently asked questions

What are the possessive adjectives in French?

Mon, ma, mes (my), ton, ta, tes (your), son, sa, ses (his, her, its), notre, nos (our), votre, vos (your) and leur, leurs (their). They agree with the noun that follows, not with the owner.

Mon, ma or mes: which one do I use?

Mon before a masculine singular noun, ma before a feminine singular noun and mes before any plural noun: mon livre, ma table, mes livres. Before a feminine noun starting with a vowel, use mon: mon amie.

Is it mon amie or ma amie?

Mon amie. Before a feminine word starting with a vowel or a silent h, French uses mon, ton and son. The noun stays feminine.

What is the difference between son, sa and ses?

Son goes with a masculine singular noun, sa with a feminine singular noun and ses with a plural noun. All three can mean his or her: the owner's gender does not change the word.

What are the French possessive pronouns?

Le mien, le tien, le sien, le nôtre, le vôtre and le leur, with their feminine and plural forms (la mienne, les nôtres). They replace a possessive and its noun: c'est le mien.

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