In this aide mémoire we will highlight possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, theirs, etc.).  Possessive pronouns simply tell who an item belongs to.

These will account for 1-2 questions on the grammar test and will demonstrate a solid level of speaking ability on the oral test.  They will appear on the reading test but are only required to be generally understood for that exam.  With a small amount of practice, you can score easy points on the exam with this topic.

Pro-tip:  We recommend reviewing the section on possessive adjectives (mon, ma, mes, etc.) before doing these exercises as this will speed up your ability to learn these concepts.

The following table outlines all the terms and their meanings.

Example Table

The key trick for these is to ensure that the masculine, feminine, and plural elements are matched correctly.  This means having a solid understanding of gender from the vocabulary list.  The exercises associated with this aide mémoire will help.

Look at the pattern in the following examples and then do the accompanying practice.

Example 1:

Son chien/His dog/Her dog becomes:

Le chien est le sien/ The dog is his./ The dog is hers.

Example 2:

Notre maison/Our house becomes

Cette maison est la nôtre./This house is ours.  Note how there is an accent on nôtre and vôtre as the phrase gets switched but not when we say “our house”.  Note also that the masculine/feminine is matched with house and not us/our.

Example 3:

Leur voiture/Their car becomes

Cette voiture est la leur.

Note how la is matched with the feminine voiture and leur is singular because it relates to one car.  If we were talking about a car show and referring to the exhibitors and all their cars, we would change the phrase to:

Leurs voitures/Their cars

Ces voitures sont les leurs.