Possessive and Demonstrative adjectives

Both of these little word families sit in front of a noun and replace the article (le / la / les). You never use them together with the article — say mon stylo (my pen), never le mon stylo.

• Possessive adjectives answer whose? — my, your, his, her, our, their: mon père (my father), ta maison (your house), leurs enfants (their children).
• Demonstrative adjectives answer which one? by pointing — this, that, these, those: ce train (this/that train), cette ville (this/that town), ces fleurs (these/those flowers).

The one rule that changes everything. In English, "his" and "her" tell you about the owner (a boy → his, a girl → her). In French, the possessive agrees with the thing owned, not the owner.

French	What it agrees with	Possible English
son livre	livre is masculine	his book or her book
sa voiture	voiture is feminine	his car or her car
ses amis	amis is plural	his friends or her friends

So sa mère (his/her mother) is feminine because mère (mother) is feminine — it does not mean the owner is female. This feels backwards to English speakers and is worth saying out loud a few times until it sticks.

Worked mini-example. "Paul loves his sister" → Paul aime sa sœur. We use sa (feminine) because sœur (sister) is feminine — even though the owner, Paul, is male. The owner's gender is irrelevant.

Here is the full set. Notice that the "singular owner" rows (my, your-tu, his/her) each have three forms, while the "plural owner" rows (our, your-vous, their) are simpler.

Owner	+ masculine noun	+ feminine noun	+ plural noun
my	mon	ma	mes
your (tu — informal)	ton	ta	tes
his / her / its	son	sa	ses
our	notre	notre	nos
your (vous — formal/plural)	votre	votre	vos
their	leur	leur	leurs

Examples across the table:

French	English
mon frère	my brother
ma sœur	my sister
mes parents	my parents
ton chien	your dog
sa maison	his/her house
ses livres	his/her books
notre école	our school
nos professeurs	our teachers
votre adresse	your address
leur voiture	their car
leurs enfants	their children

A common confusion: leur vs leurs. Both mean their. Use leur with one thing, leurs with more than one thing: leur maison (their house — one house shared) vs leurs maisons (their houses — several).

Worked mini-example. "Our parents love their children" → Nos parents aiment leurs enfants. — nos because parents is plural; leurs because enfants is plural.

French hates two vowel sounds bumping together, so it has a neat fix for possessives. Before a feminine noun that begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or a silent h, you use the masculine-looking forms mon, ton, son instead of ma, ta, sa.

This is purely about sound — it stops the awkward "ma-amie" clash. The noun is still feminine; only the possessive word changes shape.

Feminine noun	Wrong	Correct	English
amie (female friend)	ma amie	mon amie	my (female) friend
école (school)	ta école	ton école	your school
histoire (story)	sa histoire	son histoire	his/her story
adresse (address)	ma adresse	mon adresse	my address
heure (hour)	sa heure	son heure	his/her hour

So mon amie (my female friend) and mon ami (my male friend) look identical in writing — context tells you the gender. The same trick happens with the article: une amie but you still say mon amie.

Important limit on the rule. It only applies to single nouns starting with a vowel sound. If an adjective starting with a consonant comes between, you go back to ma/ta/sa: ma petite amie (my girlfriend), because petite starts with a consonant.

Worked mini-example. "His school is big" → Son école est grande. We need son (not sa) because école (school, feminine) starts with a vowel. The feminine still shows in the adjective grande.

In English we have four pointing words (this, that, these, those). French has just one family with four forms, chosen by gender, number and first sound:

Form	Used for	Example	English
ce	masculine singular (consonant start)	ce garçon	this/that boy
cet	masculine singular (vowel / silent h start)	cet homme, cet arbre	this/that man, this/that tree
cette	feminine singular	cette fille	this/that girl
ces	all plurals (masc. + fem.)	ces enfants	these/those children

A few more examples:

French	English
ce livre	this/that book
cet hôtel	this/that hotel
cet ami	this/that (male) friend
cette voiture	this/that car
cette école	this/that school
ces chaussures	these/those shoes
ces hommes	these/those men

Watch the cet / cette sound. Spoken aloud, cet (before a vowel) and cette (feminine) sound almost identical — both "set". The difference is only visible in writing and in the noun's gender. Cet ami (masculine friend) vs cette amie (feminine friend) sound the same but are spelled differently.

Worked mini-example. Choose the demonstrative for arbre (tree, masculine). It is singular, masculine, and starts with a vowel → cet. So "this tree is tall" = Cet arbre est grand.

Most of the time, French does not bother to separate "this" from "that" — ce livre can mean either, and context makes it clear. This surprises English speakers, but it is genuinely how French works day to day.

When you really need to point out a contrast — this one here versus that one there — you tack a little tag onto the noun (with a hyphen):

• -ci = "here" → this (close to you)
• -là = "there" → that (further away)

French	English
ce livre-ci	this book (here)
ce livre-là	that book (there)
cette maison-ci	this house
cette maison-là	that house
ces fleurs-ci	these flowers
ces fleurs-là	those flowers

Notice the demonstrative word (ce, cette, ces) does not change — you simply add -ci or -là to the noun. The accent on là (accent grave) is required: là (there) differs from la (the).

Worked mini-example. A shop assistant asks which dress you want. You point: Je préfère cette robe-ci, pas cette robe-là. (I prefer this dress, not that dress.) Same word cette both times; the tags do the pointing.

Now let's combine the rules into reliable habits.

1. They go directly before the noun and replace the article. You never keep le/la/les when you use a possessive or demonstrative:

• le livre → mon livre / ce livre (NOT le mon livre, NOT le ce livre).
• la voiture → sa voiture / cette voiture.

2. They agree with the noun, in gender and number. Always ask: Is the noun masculine or feminine? Singular or plural? Then pick the form:

Step	Question	Then choose
1	Singular or plural?	plural → mes/tes/ses/nos/vos/leurs or ces
2	If singular: masculine or feminine?	feminine → ma/ta/sa or cette
3	Vowel-start exception?	fem.+vowel → mon/ton/son; masc.+vowel → cet

3. Each noun usually needs its own adjective. Unlike English ("my pen and notebook"), French normally repeats the possessive for each noun: mon stylo et mon cahier (my pen and my notebook), ma mère et mon père (my mother and my father).

A short connected example. Voici ma chambre. Mon lit est près de la fenêtre, et mes livres sont sur cette étagère. J'aime beaucoup cet appartement. (Here is my room. My bed is near the window, and my books are on this shelf. I really like this apartment.)

• ma chambre — chambre feminine → ma.
• mon lit — lit masculine → mon.
• mes livres — plural → mes.
• cette étagère — étagère feminine singular → cette.
• cet appartement — appartement masculine, vowel start → cet.

Worked mini-example. Translate "I love my parents and this town." → J'aime mes parents et cette ville. — mes (parents is plural), cette (ville is feminine singular). The article disappears entirely.