How Can I Express Possession in French

There are four grammatical constructions used to express possession in French: adjectives, pronouns, and two different prepositions. Take a look at this summary of the different French possibilities, and then follow the links for detailed information. Possessive de: The preposition de is used with a name or a noun in place of s or s in English. le livre de Jean - Johns bookla chambre des filles - the girls room Possessive à  : The preposition à   is used with the verb à ªtre in front of stressed pronouns in order to emphasize the ownership of the object. Ce livre est à   lui - This book is hisCest un ami à   moi - Hes a friend of mine Possessive adjectivesPossessive adjectives are the words used in place of articles to indicate to whom or to what something belongs. The English equivalents are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their. Voici votre livre - Heres your bookCest son livre - Its his book Possessive pronounsPossessive pronouns are the words which replace a possessive adjective noun. The English equivalents are mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. Ce livre... cest le và ´tre ou le sien ? - This book... is it yours or his? French Possessive De The French preposition  de  is used to express possession with  names  and  nouns. It is equivalent to  s  or  s  in English. le livre de Jean  - Johns book les  rues de Rome  - Romes streets, the streets of Rome les  idà ©es  dun  Ãƒ ©tudiant  - a students ideas Note that the order of the nouns is inverted in French. Johns book translates literally as the book of John. As with the  partitive article  and other  de  constructions,  de  contracts with  le  and  les  to make  du  and  des: cest  la  voiture  du patron  - its the bosss car les  pages du livre  - the books pages les  pages des  livres  - the books pages De  cannot be used to express possession with  stressed pronouns; for those, you need  Ãƒ  . The French Possessive  Ãƒ   The French preposition  Ãƒ  Ã‚  is used to express possession in the following constructions:   noun   Ãƒ ªtre  Ã‚  Ãƒ  Ã‚  Ã‚  stressed pronoun,  noun, or  namecest  Ã‚  Ãƒ  Ã‚  Ã‚  stressed pronoun, noun, or namecest   noun   Ãƒ  Ã‚   stressed pronoun* These constructions put emphasis on the ownership of the object. Cet argent est à   Paul.  - This money is Pauls. Le livre est à  Ã‚  lui.  - The book is his. Cest un livre à   lui.  - Its a book of his. - À qui est ce stylo ?  - Whose pen is this?- Cest à   moi.  - Its mine. - Cet argent... cest à   elle ou à   nous  ?  - This money... is it hers or ours?- Cest à   vous.  - Its yours. - Ce chapeau est à   Luc.  - This is Lucs hat.- Non, cest à   moi !  - No, its mine! *In spoken French, you might hear  cest  Ã‚  noun   Ãƒ     name  (e.g.,  cest  un livre à   Michel), but it is grammatically incorrect. The correct way to use possession in this construction is with  de  (cest  un livre de Michel).