Day 10: Family & people

family · friends · jobs + possessive adjectives · 25 min

Today's real subject is not vocabulary, it is mon / ma / mes ("my"). French decides which word for "my" to use based on the thing owned, not the owner — the exact opposite of English his/her. Get that today.

1. Family vocabulary

⚠️ le fils is FEESS — the l is silent. la fille is FEE-yuh — the ll is a [y] sound.Two near-identical spellings, two totally different sounds.⚠️ FAUX AMI: les parents means "parents", not "relatives". And la femme is both "woman" and "wife" — context decides. Ma femme = my wife.

2. ★ mon / ma / mes — "my"

Match the noun's gender and number. Your own gender is irrelevant.

Examples: mon père (my father) · ma mère (my mother) · mes parents (my parents)

★ son père means both "his father" and "her father". French does not encode the owner's gender at all — sa voiture is "his car" if a man owns it and "her car" if a woman does, because voiture is feminine either way.This is the mirror image of English, and it is the mistake English speakers make longest:you will instinctively reach for sa when talking about a woman. Resist it — look at the noun.⚠️ One exception: a feminine noun starting with a vowel takes mon.ma amie ❌ → mon amie ✅ (purely so the sounds join up; it is pronounced mo-na-MEE)

3. Describing people (Day 5 adjectives, revisited)

★ sympa (short for sympathique) has one form for both genders, which makes it the easiest compliment for a beginner to use. Reach for it constantly.

⚠️ FAUX AMI: sympathique does not mean "sympathetic". It means likeable, friendly."Sympathetic" is compatissant.

4. Jobs again (extending Day 3)

⚠️ Literally "what do you do in life" — French does not ask "what do you do for a living". And remember Day 3: no article before the job.

5. Dialogue — introducing your family

A: Vous avez des frères et sœurs ?voo za-vay day FRAIR ay SUR? Do you have brothers and sisters?B: Oui, j'ai un frère et une sœur. Mon frère a trente ans.wee, zhay uhn FRAIR ay ewn SUR. mohn frair a trahn-TAHN.A: Il travaille ?eel tra-VYE? Does he work?B: Oui, il est médecin. Il est très sympa.wee, eel eh mayd-SAN. eel eh treh sam-PA.A: Et vos parents ?ay voh pa-RAHN? And your parents?B: Mes parents habitent à Chicago. Ma mère est professeure.may pa-RAHN za-BEET a shee-ka-GOH. ma MAIR eh pro-feh-SUR.

6. Exercises

A. Choose mon / ma / mes.

1. ___ père 2. ___ mère 3. ___ parents 4. ___ sœur 5. ___ amie 6. ___ frères

B. Say it in French.

1. I have one brother. 2. My mother is a teacher. 3. My parents live in Boston.
2. What do you do?

C. ⚠️ Fix the mistake.

1. Ma ami est gentil. 2. Mon mère est professeure. 3. Je suis un étudiant.
2. (about a woman's car) C'est sa voiture — wait, is that right?

7. Today's 10 sentences

1. J'ai un frère et une sœur. — I have a brother and a sister (zhay uhn FRAIR ay ewn SUR)
2. Mon père est médecin. — My father is a doctor (mohn PAIR eh mayd-SAN)
3. Ma mère est professeure. — My mother is a teacher (ma MAIR eh pro-feh-SUR)
4. Mes parents habitent à Chicago. — My parents live in Chicago (may pa-RAHN za-BEET)
5. Vous avez des enfants ? — Do you have children? (voo za-vay day zahn-FAHN)
6. Il est très sympa. — He's really nice (eel eh treh sam-PA)
7. Elle est gentille. — She's kind (ell eh zhahn-TEE-yuh)
8. Qu'est-ce que vous faites dans la vie ? — What do you do? (kess kuh voo fet dahn la VEE)
9. Je travaille dans une start-up. — I work at a start-up (zhuh tra-VYE dahn zewn star-TUP)
10. C'est mon ami. — That's my friend (seh mo-na-MEE)

8. 📲 Upload to LangNote

The possessive table (2) + the dialogue (5). Possessives are the single best shape for grammar cloze drills the app generates.

langNote is a paid subscription and this course recommends it. The 30 lessons are free and complete either way.