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Grammar
Objective: Express collective ownership using the correct plural possessive adjective for each owner and each owned noun.
| Owner | Singular Noun | Plural Noun | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| we | notre livre | nos livres | our book, our books |
| you (formal or plural) | votre livre | vos livres | your book, your books |
| they | leur livre | leurs livres | their book, their books |
Parents is plural, so it takes nos, while notre applies only when the owned noun is singular.
Maison is singular, so it takes notre, and the number of the owned noun decides the form, not the number of owners.
Notre precedes a singular noun. The owner is plural (we), but the owned noun is singular.
Nos precedes a plural noun. Same plural owner as the previous example, but the noun is now plural.
Votre before a singular noun, used here in formal singular address to one person.
Vos before a plural noun. The possessive shifts because the owned noun is plural.
Leur before a singular feminine noun. No feminine form exists in the plural possessive system.
5 exercises · about 8 minutes
Enfants is plural, so the plural form leurs is required, while leur applies only to a singular noun.
Each possessive agrees with its own noun, so maison takes votre and jardin also takes votre as a singular noun.
Leurs before a plural noun. The added -s marks the plural, matching voitures.
Both possessives are singular because both nouns are singular, even though the owners are more than one.
Nos before the plural noun grands-parents. The hyphenated compound is treated as a single plural noun.