Si “Paul rappelle son frère à Sarah” veut dire Paul reminds Sarah of HER brother, comment dirait-t-on: Paul reminds Sarah of HIS brother? Merci en ava

Ann H.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Si “Paul rappelle son frère à Sarah” veut dire Paul reminds Sarah of HER brother, comment dirait-t-on: Paul reminds Sarah of HIS brother? Merci en ava

of HER brother, comment on dirait "Paul reminds Sarah of HIS brother?
Asked 6 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

No difference in French. "Son" can mean "his" or "her".

Chris (not a native speaker).

Ann H.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Right. so how does a person know which one the speaker means???
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

From context. Or you could explicitly say, "le frère de Sarah" or "le frère de Paul". 

-- Chris. 

Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

From context. Or you could explicitly say, "le frère de Sarah" or "le frère de Paul". 

-- Chris. 

Ann H.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
So one just assumes the son refers to the person following unless stated as le frère de Paul?
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

I don't know that one assumes this. Either is possible. In my understanding, only context can tell. It's just like in English when you say, "I'll let you know." There simply is no way to tell whether you are speaking to a si gle person or a group, except context. 

-- Chris. 

Alan G.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

The closest equivalent in English would be:

"Paul reminds Steven of his brother."

This might seem ambiguous, but I think most people would assume it's Steven's brother, because that's the closest antecedent to the pronoun. If it were Paul's brother you'd probably rewrite the sentence to make that clear.

I don't know whether a native French speaker would think that Ann's example was completely ambiguous, or whether one interpretation is more likely.

Si “Paul rappelle son frère à Sarah” veut dire Paul reminds Sarah of HER brother, comment dirait-t-on: Paul reminds Sarah of HIS brother? Merci en ava

of HER brother, comment on dirait "Paul reminds Sarah of HIS brother?

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