previousnext

5.4.1.1 No article before possessive pronouns

We have already seen that declination is often formed with the help of prepositions:

Dative = a + articlel
Je	donne	le	livre	à la	femme.
I	give	the	book	to the	woman
Je	donne	le	livre	au	garçon.	au = à + le
I	give	the	book	to the	boy.
Je	donne	le	livre	aux	femmes.	aux = à + les
I	give	the	book	to the	women.
Je	donne	le	livre	aux	garçons.	aux = à + les
I	give	the	book	to the	boys.

Genitive = de + article
C'	est	la	porte	de la	maison.
This	is	the	door	of the	house.
C'	est	la	porte	du	grenier.	du = de + le
This	is	the	door	of the	barn.
Ce	sont	les	portes	des	maisons.	des = de + les
These	are	the	doors	of the	houses.
Ce	sont	les	portes	des	greniers.	des = de + les
These	are	the	doors	of the	barns.

As also in English there is no article, where a possessive pronoun is used. This also means that the blending of preposition and article is dissolved.

Examples
	Je donne le livre à mon fils.
	I give the book to my son.
	Je donne le livre à ma femme.
	I give the book to my woman.
	Je donne le livres à mes fils.
	I give the books to my son.
	C' est la porte de ma maison.
	This is the door of my house.
	Ce sont les portes de mes maisons.
	These are the doors of my houses.

previousnext

contact privacy statement imprint