hi in the lesson there is

Rona C.A1Kwiziq community member

hi in the lesson there is

Asked 8 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi,

 Il déteste son frère 

means  

He hates his/her brother

so in French, you will need more context to know who the 'son' refers to.

Elle déteste son frère

will be

She hates his/her brother 

same thing.

Hope this helps!

Rona C.A1Kwiziq community member
Il déteste son frère. He hates his brother. but how would you change this to be the french for he hates HER brother
Meghna J.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Rona, The sentence would be Elle déteste son frère. The elle would indicate her. SON won't change.
P. S.A1Kwiziq community member
Are you sure Son doesn't change to Sa as you are describing gender possessive, and the brother being the possessive to the Female makes Sa?
clarice h.A1Kwiziq community member
"son" agree with the gender of the noun "frère". So it's right to say "Elle déteste son frère."
Terri R.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
He hates her brother. The subject is he, il. the object is 'her brother'. brother is masculine, so would be 'son frère'. So if I understand rightly, He hates her brother would be Il déteste son frère.
Sonal ..Kwiziq community member
That's a good question.
Dawn J.A2Kwiziq community member

Il déteste le frère de _________. 

(He hates the brother of __________)

J. S.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

This is a very good question, which I think the lesson should address.

My understanding is that whilst, grammatically, «Il déteste son frère» could be someone else's brother, in practice it would be understood as "He hates his brother" unless you have surrounding context to the contrary.

If you need to clearly refer to someone else's brother then you have to use a structure like the one Dawn suggests, with either à or de. If it's a (stress) pronoun, then you need to use 'à', if it's a name or noun, then you need to use 'de': https://www.thoughtco.com/french-possession-1368906

hi in the lesson there is

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Clever stuff happening!