Possessive pronouns are used to replace a "noun phrase" containing a possessive adjective. They indicate ownership. Their English equivalents are: mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, theirs.
Since they replace nouns which vary in gender and number, they have different forms to indicate these variations. In French, they agree in gender with the being or the thing owned, not the owner's gender.
Regarde cette valise! C'est la
mienne. [valise = suitcase, fem. sing.]
(Look at the suitcase! It is mine.)
Regarde ces souliers!
Ce sont les miens. [souliers = shoes, masc. pl.]
(Look at the shoes! They are mine.)
Possessive Pronouns
| masc., sing | fem., sing. | masc., pl. | fem., pl. | meaning |
| le mien | la mienne | les miens | les miennes | (mine) |
| le tien | la tienne | les tiens | les tiennes | (yours) [fam.] |
| le vôtre | la vôtre | les vôtres | les vôtres | (yours) [polite] |
| le sien | la sienne | les siens | les siennes | (his/hers/its) |
| le nôtre | la nôtre | les nôtres | les nôtres | (ours) |
| le vôtre | la vôtre | les vôtres | les vôtres | (yours) |
| le leur | la leur | les leurs | les leurs | (theirs) |
Notes:
The articles le, la, les combine in the normal way with à and de (See Contraction of Prepositions with Article).
Quand je pense à de bons
dîners, je ne pense pas aux vôtres mais aux miens.
(When I think about good meals, I do not think about yours, but
mine.)
The possessive pronouns nôtre, vôtre take the circumflex accent on the o. No accent is required on the possessive adjective.
See Also: