mon, ma, mes: whose is it?
The owner picks the word, the thing picks the ending
Possessive words agree with the thing owned, not the owner. Mon livre (masc.), ma voiture (fem.), mes livres (plural). Same for ton / ta / tes and son / sa / ses. Then notre / nos, votre / vos, leur / leurs for nous, vous, ils.
Big trap for English speakers: son and sa both mean his AND her. Sa voiture is his car or her car, depending on the speaker. The word matches the car, not the owner. And before a feminine word starting with a vowel, ma becomes mon: mon amie, mon école.
Examples
mon père, ma mère, mes parentsmy father, my mother, my parentsone owner, three shapes
sa sœurhis sister or her sistersa matches sœur, not the owner
mon amiemy (female) friendma → mon before a vowel
leurs enfantstheir childrenplural thing → leurs
Look right, not left
The owner is on the left, the thing is on the right. The thing decides the ending. Sa voiture can be Paul's car.
Practice (sample)
Fill the blank
- Voici ______ frère. (my)
mon / ma / mesAnswer
mon. frère is masculine → mon. - C'est ______ maison. (my)
mon / ma / mesAnswer
ma. maison is feminine → ma. - Paul cherche ______ clés. (his)
son / sa / sesAnswer
ses. clés is plural → ses. - Marie aime ______ chien. (her)
son / sa / sesAnswer
son. chien is masculine → son, even though the owner is a woman. - Tu as ______ livre ? (your, tu)
ton / ta / tesAnswer
ton. livre is masculine → ton. - ______ amie s'appelle Léa. (my)
Ma / Mon / MesAnswer
Mon. amie starts with a vowel → mon amie.
The online game draws fresh questions from a bank of 16, in two levels.