French Possessive Adjectives: The Chart and the Two Rules That Matter
The full mon/ma/mes chart plus the two rules that trip everyone: French possessives agree with the thing owned, and it's mon amie - not ma amie.
French possessive adjectives agree with the noun owned, not the owner: mon livre (my book), ma maison (my house), mes amis (my friends). So sa voiture means either his or her car. Before a vowel sound, feminine nouns take the masculine form: mon amie, not “ma amie.”
Quick answer
French possessive adjectives agree with the noun owned, not the owner: mon livre (my book), ma maison (my house), mes amis (my friends). So sa voiture means either his or her car. Before a vowel sound, feminine nouns take the masculine form: mon amie, not “ma amie.”
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The full chart
| Masc. singular | Fem. singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| my | mon | ma | mes |
| your (tu) | ton | ta | tes |
| his/her/its | son | sa | ses |
| our | notre | nos | |
| your (vous) | votre | vos | |
| their | leur | leurs | |
Note that notre/votre/leur don’t split by gender - only by number.
Rule 1: Agreement follows the noun, not the owner
The classic his/her merge: il aime sa mère and elle aime sa mère use the exact same word, sa, because mère is feminine - regardless of whether the owner is a man or a woman. English speakers instinctively want to encode the owner’s gender the way “his” and “her” do; French simply doesn’t. For the grammar system this belongs to, see French grammar guide.
Rule 2: The mon amie euphony rule
Before a vowel sound, feminine singular nouns switch to the masculine possessive purely for pronunciation ease: mon amie, mon école, ton histoire, son idée - because “ma amie” would clash two vowel sounds together. Bonus liaison quirk: mon ami(e) sounds identical /mohn-nah-MEE/ whether the friend is male or female - only the spelling reveals which. See French pronunciation guide for the liaison rule behind this.
Common mistakes
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ma amie | mon amie | euphony before a vowel |
| writing “sa” thinking it must match the owner | sa always follows the noun’s gender | rule 1 |
| ses vs leurs confusion | ses = his/her (singular owner, plural things); leurs = their (plural owner, plural things) | owner number, not noun number |
More traps like this live in common French mistakes English speakers make.
Quick practice
- C’est ___ (my) livre.
- Elle aime ___ (her) chat.
- Nous cherchons ___ (our) clés.
- C’est ___ (his) amie.
(Answers: 1. mon, 2. son, 3. nos, 4. son - not “sa,” because amie starts with a vowel sound.)
Possessives that finally make sense
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Questions about this note
How do you say his and her in French?
Both are son/sa/ses - the noun's own gender decides the form, and context tells you whose.
Why is it mon amie for a woman?
Euphony: mon replaces ma before a vowel sound, regardless of the noun's actual gender.
What's the difference between leur and leurs?
leur pairs with a singular noun, leurs with a plural noun - both meaning "their."
Do notre and votre change with gender?
No - only by number: notre/nos, votre/vos.
Is it ses or leurs for "their"?
ses means his/her (one owner, several things); leurs means their (several owners, several things).