French Pronouns
- my, your, his, her, its, their -

In English, when a person indicates possession (ownership), they do not have to think about anything more than saying my or mine.

These are pronouns: my, your, his, her, its, their.

One would say: my car, my dog, my books

With regards to French Pronouns, however, before indicating possession, you have to know the gender and number of the noun/object and the French Pronouns change according to these factors:

my car is ma voiture - because the noun, car, is feminine singular;

my dog is mon chien - because the noun, dog, is masculine singular;

my books is mes livres - because the noun, books, is plural (and masculine).

As always, there are exceptions.

• When the noun (object) begins with a vowel, whether or not it is feminine, the masculine form of the pronoun is used for je, tu, and il/elle/on.

A common example of this is the word friend.
Ami (masculine) and amie (feminine) are both preceded by mon, ton, and son because of the beginning vowel in ami.
e.g. mon/ton/son amie = my/your/his/her/one's female friend.

• It is the same for words beginning with h.
e.g. histoire - story.
One would say mon histoire, ton histoire, son histoire, instead of using the feminine possessive pronouns (ma, ta, sa).

Here are some examples of the French Pronouns in use:

Ma maison est dans la campagne. - My house is in the country.

Ton ami Jacques arrive.- Your friend Jacques is coming.

Ses voitures ne marchent pas. His/her cars do not work.

Notre gouvernement est socialiste. - Our government is socialist.

Vos parents sont algériens. - Your parents are Algerian.

Leur idée n’est pas bonne. - Their idea is not good.

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