#jc7660

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cobalt irisBOT
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Please be patient

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dark crater
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in English "his" and "her" agree with the gender of the posessor
in French "son" and "sa" agree with the gender of the thing that is possessed

sterile ledge
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singular possessive pronouns have a masculine and feminine form
but plural possessive pronouns do not. There is only one plural form regardless of gender
For instance:
mon => singular masc
ma => singular fem
mes => plural (masc + fem)

All of them can be translated as "my"
My brother => Mon frère
My sister => Ma soeur
My parents => Mes parents

fading stirrup
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Mon frère = my brother

Mon means "my" but it's gendered masculine singular to agree with brother

Ma sœur = my sister

Mon means "my" but it's gendered feminine singular to "sister"

Mes amis = my friends

Mes means my but is made plural to agree with the plural "amis"

Ton frère = your brother

Ta sœur = your sister

Tes amis = your friends

Son frère = his or her brother

Sa sœur = his or her sister

Ses amis = his or her friends

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The exception comes if the following word begins with a vowel "amie" is female friend. But it's still mon amie because in this case there's a vowel so you're not trying to gender your possessives towards the item. You're just trying to make it pronouncable

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Hope that answered the question. I tried to explain what Duolingo was showing in more detail

dark crater
fading stirrup
molten token
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Thank you everyone!

I just wanted to clarify so it's not your gender that matters but the gender/assigned gender of the person/object of the sentence?

If I am a guy.

I should say, "Mon frere" because my brother is a boy.

"Ta sœur" because the object of the sentence is a girl.

Am I getting it right?

The gender of my/your/his/her depends on what someone is possessing not the speaker themselves.

sterile ledge
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that's right. For English speakers, confusion often happens with "his/her" because the gender distinction is not on the same object.
his brother => son frère
his sister => sa soeur
her brother => son frère
her sister => sa soeur
(sorry had a typo, fixed)

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this is based on the grammatical gender, and can be applied to anything, not just people
this follows the same principle all other articles in French follow.
"pomme" (apple) is feminine, so "la pomme", "une pomme", "ma pomme", "ta pomme", etc
"chapeau" (hat) is masculine, so "le chapeau", "un chapeau", "mon chapeau", "ton chapeau", etc
whoever the possessor may be

molten token
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It makes so much sense now thank you so much!

I used to think because I was
a boy I could only use mon, ton. Turns out I was mistaken.

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Thank you everyone for answering my questions! @sterile ledge @fading stirrup @dark crater

sterile ledge
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that said, as thom explained, there is one exception

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feminine nouns starting with a vowel use the masculine possessive pronoun to avoid chaining vowel sounds together
words like "amie" or "université" may be feminine, but still use masculine possessive pronouns if directly following them
"une amie" but "mon amie"
that said, because this is for sequencing sounds, this rule does not apply if there is an adjective inbetween them
"mon amie" but "ma meilleure amie"

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this is a bit higher level. remember that if you want but just so you're not surprised to see that come up later

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(but yeah, to clarify because I forgot to say it directly; you being a boy or a girl does not change in any way the possessive pronouns you are going to use)