Red Noses

Brian E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Red Noses

With regard to “avec nos lèvres gercées, notre chair de poule constante et nos nez écarlates !”


As people have one nose each, should this be “… et notre nez écarlate !”?

Asked 1 year ago
Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Brian, no, the number of possessions determines plurality, and there is only one plural possessive adjective for each ‘grammatical person’. ‘Our noses’ (or other things) -  ‘nos nez’ (nos choses). The noun ‘nez’ here is plural, although there is no spelling change between singular and plural for ‘nez’. 

The distinction you are thinking of is only relevant to 3rd person possessive adjectives, when ‘leur’ and singular noun is used if each person only has one possession, but ‘leurs’ and plural noun if each person has multiple possessions. “  

(  “chair de poule “ is an ‘exception’ here - it is a fixed expression in the singular, I believe, and therefore has a singular form possessive adjective ). 

 

See attached from Laura Lawless

 https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/possessive-adjectives-plural-possessions/

Brian E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

This is going to take some getting used to! Thanks for the explanation Maarten

Brian E. asked:

Red Noses

With regard to “avec nos lèvres gercées, notre chair de poule constante et nos nez écarlates !”


As people have one nose each, should this be “… et notre nez écarlate !”?

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