his

his

❢ In French determiners agree in gender and number with the noun they qualify. So his when used as a determiner is translated by son + masculine singular noun (son chien), by sa + feminine singular noun (sa maison) BUT by son + feminine noun beginning with a vowel or mute h (son assiette) and by ses + plural noun (ses enfants).

When his is stressed, à lui is added after the noun : his house = sa maison à lui. For his used with parts of the body ⇒ The human body. In French possessive pronouns reflect the gender and number of the noun they are standing for. When used as a possessive pronoun his is translated by le sien, la sienne, les siens or les siennes according to what is being referred to. For examples and particular usages see the entry below.

A det son/sa/ ses.

B pron all the drawings were good but his was the best tous les dessins étaient bons mais le sien était le meilleur ; the blue car is his la voiture bleue est la sienne, la voiture bleue est à lui ; it's not his ce n'est pas à lui ; which house is his? sa maison c'est laquelle? ; I'm a colleague of his je suis un/-e de ses collègues ; I saw him with that dog of his péj je l'ai vu avec son sale chien ○ ; his was not an easy task fml sa tâche n'était pas facile ; the money was not his to give away il n'avait pas à donner cet argent.

Big English-French dictionary. 2003.