Look at these expressions of possession in French:
La maison des Jackson est sur la gauche.
The Jacksons' house is on the left.
Le livre de Paul est sur son lit.
Paul's book is on his bed.
In English, to express possession, we use the 's for example Tara's bag.
There is no equivalent structure in French: instead, we use de or des (of).
Note however two things:
- the object comes first and the owner last (the reverse of English). It's exactly the same as in Old English.
e.g. the book of Paul
- you need to add the definite article le, la, l', les before the first element, as in French you cannot have a noun without an article.
e.g. le livre de Paul - Paul's (x) book
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Le jouet de l'enfant est cassé.
The child's toy is broken.
L'histoire de Marie est extraordinaire!
Marie's story is extraordinary!
Le livre de Paul est sur son lit.
Paul's book is on his bed.
Les notes d'Aurélie sont bonnes.
Aurélie's grades are good.
La maison des Jackson est sur la gauche.
The Jacksons' house is on the left.
Q&A
Chris
Kwiziq community member
19/04/18
In English both options -- with or without "an" -- are possible.
-- Chris.
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
20/04/18
Chris
Kwiziq community member
11/01/18
"De" is used to denote intellectual ownership while "à" implies personal physical ownership. It is often translated as "by" in this context:
"Ce livre de Zola est excellent." -- This book by Zola is excellent.
"De" is also used to describe an object further. In these instances one could translate "de" with "of the":
"La balle des enfants." -- The ball of the children.
"À" really expresses ownership in a more direct sense as "de".
"Ce manteau-ci est à moi." -- This coat belongs to me.
I hope I was able to shed some light on this. -- Chris (not a native speaker).
Chris
Kwiziq community member
11/01/18
Le stylo est à moi -- The pen belongs to me.
Le stylo est de moi. -- The pen is by me (i.e., I made it)
The first one sounds very natural to my ears, whereas the second one doesn't.
-- Chris.
Chris
Kwiziq community member
11/12/17
Here is the corresponding lesson: https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/glossary/contraction/l-elision-elision
-- Chris.
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
11/12/17
Chris is correct about elision BUT it does not apply to "all words ending in -e", but only pronouns and prepositions (you cannot apply elision on nouns or adjectives for example!)
Bonne journée !
Chris
Kwiziq community member
11/12/17
"Notre évaluation va commencer tout de suite."
and NOT
"Notr' évaluation.....".
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
That1
Kwiziq community member
11/12/17
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
12/12/17
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
29/06/17
This is a very interesting question, and one many people are struggling with :)
The difference comes down to the specificity of "ownership". Let's take two similar examples:
1- la chambre de l'enfant versus 2- la chambre d'enfant
1- The room belongs to a specific child = the child's room
2- The "child" element is characterising the type of room, but doesn't indicate who specifically owns that room = the nursery / "the child room"
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
4/01/17
The "verbes du deuxième groupe" in French are regular -IR verbs which follow the conjugation of "finir". They're characterised by an "-iss-" suffix in the plural forms of Le Présent:
"nous finissons, vous finissez, ils/elles finissent"
I hope that's helpful!
Bonne Année !
Sara
Kwiziq community member
6/01/17
Sara Princ
Sara
Kwiziq community member
6/01/17
Sara Princ
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
14/10/16
Good question. No, because "de" is not possessive here: it's not saying that the "apple" belongs to the ground, it's describing where it comes from.
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
14/10/16
Here you are not saying "the apple of THE earth", which would imply a possession by one of the other, but more "the earth apple" which is a general characteristic of that kind of apple.
Therefore, you will not use the definite article "la" which makes it a specific case ("of THE earth").
Here it's not a case of possession, but rather a case of characterisation, such as explained in the following lesson:
https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/my-languages/french/view/207
I hope that's helpful!
Nazanin
Kwiziq community member
14/10/16
Nazanin
Kwiziq community member
14/10/16
Nice of you and your team. :)
Laura
Kwiziq language super star
2/10/16
Yes, "maison" is singular, but it belongs to "the Jacksons," which is plural.
Meghna
Kwiziq community member
3/10/16
Yashika
Kwiziq community member
18 May 2018
2 replies
in first example "La maison des Jackson est sur la gauche." can we use" de jackson" instead of "des jackson"?
Aurélie
Kwiziq language super star
18 May 2018
18/05/18
Bonjour Yashika !
Both sentences are correct, but mean very different things :)
La maison des Jackson = the Jacksons' / the Jackson family's house
La maison de Jackson = Jackson's house (one person)
I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !
Yashika
Kwiziq community member
18 May 2018
18/05/18
Thanks a lot.
You are best :*