Language/French/Grammar/Possessive-pronouns

Possessive pronouns

Summary table of possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns agree in gender and number with a noun mentioned or implied elsewhere in the discourse:

• Voici ta clef. Rends-moi la mienne

Here is your key. Give me back mine

• Il portait un chapeau qui n'était pas le sien

He was wearing a hat which wasn't his

• Ils ont emporté mes notes, mais j'ai gardé les leurs

They took away my notes, but I kept theirs

• Tu ne peux pas prendre ceux-là, ils ne sont pas à nous. Ce sont les leurs

You can't take those, they don't belong to us. They are theirs.

• Vos idées ne sont pas toujours les nôtres

Your ideas aren't always the same as ours

les siens also has the special meaning of 'one's family': On travaille pour les siens 'People work for their families', and les nôtres can mean 'with us', as in:

• Elle n'était pas des nôtres

She wasn't with us