French Grammar in Context

Other points to note in the text

• Negatives: rien n’est(line 1); personne ne viendra(line 2); Ni... ni(line 3); ni jamais plus
  (line 4); ne... plus(line 13); deinstead of desafter a negative: il n’y a plus de routes(line 13);
  ni(line 14) (see Chapter 8)


• Passé composéof pronominal verbs and past participle agreement: se sont séparés(lines 5, 12);
  s’est séparée(lines 7, 8); se sont séparées(line 10) (see Chapter 2)


• Future tense: viendra(line 2); avanceront(line 13); connaîtront(line 14) (see Chapter 6)


• Past historic: fut(line 4) in contrast to imperfect: J’étais(line 21) (see Chapters 3 and 5)

Discover more about possessives

1 POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

a It should be noted that possessive adjectives in French take the gender of the thing possessed,

not the gender of the possessor. This goes against the grain for English speakers, who are

accustomed to make the distinction between, e.g., ‘his mother’ and ‘her mother’. In French, sa

mèremay mean either. If it is essential to distinguish between the two, you may do so by using

sa mère à luiand sa mère à elle, respectively.

b When referring to parts of the body, French frequently uses a definite article where an English

speaker may expect a possessive adjective.

e.g. Elle a hoché la tête She shook her head

Elle s’est cassé la jambe She broke her leg

Il lui a serré la main He shook his/her hand

However, when body parts are the subject of a sentence, they are usually accompanied by a

possessive adjective, as in English.

e.g. Ses mains reposaient sur la couverture His/her hands rested on the blanket

Ses jambes fléchirent His/her legs gave way

c The second-person forms votre, voscan be used to refer (politely) to a singular possessor or to

more than one possessor.

e.g. Voici votre billet, Madame; N’oubliez pas de ranger vos affaires, les enfants

d In conjunction with indefinites such as on, chacun, personne, the third-person singular

possessive adjectives son, sa, sesare normally used.

e.g. Chacun avait apporté ses propres provisions

e The feminine singular forms ma, ta, sabecome mon, ton, sonwhen they are immediately

followed by a noun or adjective beginning with a vowel or mute ‘h’.

e.g. mon école; ton autre voiture; son hésitation

96 French Grammar in Context