Notes
Family vocabulary
- la mère, le père, les parents, le frère, la sœur, le fils, la fille, le grand-père, la grand-mère, l'oncle, la tante, le cousin, la cousine, le mari, la femme. un enfant = a child.
- Ask: Tu as des frères et sœurs ? Answer: J'ai un frère et deux sœurs.
Possessive adjectives
| Owner | m. sing. | f. sing. | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| my | mon | ma | mes |
| your (tu) | ton | ta | tes |
| his / her | son | sa | ses |
| our | notre | notre | nos |
| your (vous) | votre | votre | vos |
| their | leur | leur | leurs |
- The possessive agrees with the thing owned. Son/sa/ses mean his or her. Use mon/ton/son before a feminine noun that starts with a vowel: mon amie.
Possession and age
- No 's in French: le livre de Marie; de + le = du: le chien du voisin.
- Age uses avoir: J'ai quinze ans. Ask Quel âge as-tu ?; birthday: Mon anniversaire est le 3 mai.
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
Grand-mère is feminine singular and begins with a consonant, so ma.
Parents is plural, so leurs.
Use de to show possession, and cousine for a female cousin.
The answer gives an age: quel âge.
The speaker plus the brother Adam. Mimi is a cat.
De + le contracts to du.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Sara shows a photo of her family to a French friend. Her mother is Maya, her father is Ali, her brother Omar is 10, and her grandmother (who is 70) lives with them.
(a) Write three sentences naming her mother, father and her brother's age with correct possessives.
Show the answer and scoring guide
Ma mère s'appelle Maya. Mon père s'appelle Ali. Mon frère Omar a dix ans.
Check off the points you earned:
(b) Say "Her grandmother is seventy years old and she lives with our family."
Show the answer and scoring guide
Ma grand-mère a soixante-dix ans et elle habite avec notre famille.
Check off the points you earned:
(c) Sara's friend asks « À qui est ce chat ? ». Write an answer that says it is her grandmother's cat, and explain why French uses de instead of 's.
Show the answer and scoring guide
C'est le chat de ma grand-mère. French shows possession with de, and the thing owned comes first.
Check off the points you earned: