French has two completely unrelated grammatical words spelled leur. One is an indirect-object pronoun meaning to them, and it is invariable — it never takes an -s, ever. The other is a possessive adjective meaning their, and it agrees in number with the noun it modifies — leur livre (their book), leurs livres (their books). In the singular they are spelled identically, which makes it easy to forget they are different words. In the plural the difference becomes visible: only the possessive takes -s. The single most common written error in B1–B2 French is je leurs parle — adding a phantom plural to a pronoun that has no plural to give.
This page sorts the two leurs out, gives you a reliable test for which one you are looking at, and drills the contrast with examples that put both in the same sentence.
The two leurs at a glance
| Pronoun (indirect object) | Possessive adjective | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | to them, for them | their |
| Position | before the verb | before a noun |
| Singular | leur | leur |
| Plural | leur (always — no plural form) | leurs |
| Agreement | none — always invariable | with the noun it precedes |
| Replaces | à + plural noun (à mes amis) | a possessor (de eux/elles) |
The pronoun is part of the verb phrase. The possessive is part of the noun phrase. Once you can spot which phrase the leur belongs to, the rest follows automatically.
Leur as indirect-object pronoun: invariable
The indirect-object pronoun leur replaces à + a plural human noun. Je parle à mes parents → Je leur parle. Tu écris à tes collègues ? → Tu leur écris ? It sits before the conjugated verb (or before the infinitive in modal constructions), exactly like lui (its singular counterpart).
Je leur ai téléphoné hier soir.
I called them last night.
Tu leur expliques toujours la même chose.
You always explain the same thing to them.
Mes grands-parents adorent les enfants — je leur rends visite chaque mois.
My grandparents adore children — I visit them every month.
The crucial fact: this leur never takes an -s, no matter how many people are in the group. It is morphologically frozen. Even when the antecedent is clearly plural (mes amis, les voisins, toutes les femmes), the pronoun stays leur. There is no such word as leurs in the pronoun system. Writing je leurs parle is exactly as wrong as writing je nouss parle — you have invented a plural for a word that doesn't have one.
Mes parents m'attendent ; je vais leur dire que j'arrive.
My parents are waiting for me; I'll tell them I'm coming.
Les étudiants ont des questions — pose-leur la question directement.
The students have questions — ask them directly.
The placement rule is the same as for all object pronouns: before the verb in declaratives, after the verb (with a hyphen) in affirmative imperatives. For more on placement, see the page on indirect-object pronoun placement.
Leur(s) as possessive adjective: agrees in number
The possessive adjective leur / leurs corresponds to English their. It precedes a noun and agrees with that noun in number only (French possessive adjectives don't agree in gender with the noun, unlike mon/ma, ton/ta, son/sa).
Leur maison est au bout de la rue.
Their house is at the end of the street.
Leurs enfants jouent dans le jardin.
Their children are playing in the garden.
Mes voisins ont vendu leur voiture mais gardé leurs vélos.
My neighbors sold their car but kept their bikes.
The plural is leurs, with an -s. The form depends on the noun, not on the possessors: leur chat (one cat, owned by them), leurs chats (several cats, owned by them). Whether the owners are two people or two thousand is irrelevant — only the number of cats matters.
Les Dupont ? Leur fils est médecin et leurs filles sont avocates.
The Duponts? Their son is a doctor and their daughters are lawyers.
Je n'aime pas leur attitude.
I don't like their attitude.
The killer test: what comes after?
The single most reliable way to tell which leur you have written is to look at what immediately follows.
- If a verb follows (or another object pronoun, or an adverb attached to the verb), it's the pronoun → spell it leur, no -s, ever.
- If a noun follows (possibly with an adjective in between), it's the possessive adjective → match the -s to the noun.
Je leur parle.
I'm talking to them. (verb follows → pronoun → no -s)
Je connais leur père.
I know their father. (noun follows → possessive → singular)
Je connais leurs parents.
I know their parents. (plural noun follows → possessive → -s)
This test breaks down for one tricky case: when an adjective comes between leur and the noun. Leurs grands enfants (their grown-up children) — the -s still goes on leurs and on grands, agreeing with enfants. Look past the adjective to the head noun.
Leurs nouvelles voitures sont électriques.
Their new cars are electric.
Both leurs in the same sentence
The hardest case — and a common B2 stumbling block — is a sentence where both functions appear. Here, the pronoun stays leur (invariable) while the possessive may take -s.
Je leur ai rendu leurs clés.
I gave them back their keys. (pronoun leur + possessive leurs)
Tu peux leur expliquer leur erreur ?
Can you explain their mistake to them? (pronoun leur + possessive singular leur)
Les enfants ? Je leur ai dit de ranger leurs affaires.
The kids? I told them to put away their things.
On va leur demander leurs prénoms.
We're going to ask them their first names.
In every case: the leur before the verb is the pronoun (invariable, no -s), the leur(s) before a noun is the possessive (agrees with the noun).
Why the confusion is built in
The two words look alike because they share an etymology — both descend from Latin illōrum (of those, their). In Old French the possessive and the dative pronoun started to converge in form, and Modern French inherited the homophony. English speakers learning French often double down on the confusion because in English their is invariable (their book / their books) — there is no plural form to forget. So the impulse for English speakers is the opposite of the actual French pattern: they tend to leave the possessive singular when it should be plural (*leur enfants), or to add -s to the pronoun by analogy with the noun's number (*je leurs parle). Both errors come from the same source — not seeing that French distinguishes pronoun from possessive at the -s.
Pronunciation: identical, spelling: not
Both leur and leurs are pronounced /lœʁ/ — the -s is silent. Even leurs amis (where you might expect a liaison) is normally pronounced /lœʁ‿ami/ with optional liaison, but the -s doesn't fundamentally change the sound of leurs itself. This is why the distinction is a writing problem, not a speaking problem. Native speakers don't hear themselves making the error — they have to catch it on the page.
Leurs amis sont arrivés.
Their friends have arrived. /lœʁ.z‿ami sɔ̃t‿aʁive/ (liaison optional)
This is also why the error survives: even native French speakers, when writing quickly, sometimes write je leurs parle by mistake. Spell-checkers usually catch it (because leurs before a verb is ungrammatical), but you should not rely on the spell-checker — you should know the rule.
Common Mistakes
❌ Je leurs parle souvent.
Incorrect — the pronoun *leur* is invariable; it never takes -s.
✅ Je leur parle souvent.
I talk to them often.
❌ Tu connais leur enfants ?
Incorrect — *enfants* is plural, so the possessive must be *leurs*.
✅ Tu connais leurs enfants ?
Do you know their children?
❌ Je vais leurs téléphoner ce soir.
Incorrect — pronoun before *téléphoner* must be invariable *leur*.
✅ Je vais leur téléphoner ce soir.
I'm going to call them tonight.
❌ Ils ont oublié leur valises à l'aéroport.
Incorrect — *valises* is plural, so the possessive needs the -s.
✅ Ils ont oublié leurs valises à l'aéroport.
They forgot their suitcases at the airport.
❌ Je leurs ai donné leurs cadeaux.
Incorrect — first *leurs* (before *ai*) is the pronoun and must be invariable.
✅ Je leur ai donné leurs cadeaux.
I gave them their presents.
Key takeaways
- The pronoun leur (= to them) sits before the verb and is invariable — never leurs.
- The possessive leur / leurs (= their) sits before a noun and agrees in number with that noun: leur frère, leurs frères.
- Look at the next word: verb → pronoun (no -s); noun → possessive (match the -s).
- Both can appear in the same sentence (je leur ai rendu leurs clés) — pronoun stays bare, possessive matches its noun.
- The -s is silent, so this is purely a writing problem; the spell-checker can help, but the underlying rule is what you need to know.
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- Les Pronoms Compléments d'Objet Indirect (COI)A1 — Indirect object pronouns — me, te, lui, nous, vous, leur — replace 'à + person'. They sit in front of the verb just like direct object pronouns, but the third-person forms (lui, leur) are completely distinct from le/la/les.
- Lui et leur ne marquent pas le genreA2 — The indirect object pronouns lui and leur do not distinguish masculine from feminine — unlike the direct object pronouns le and la. 'Je lui parle' means both 'I talk to him' and 'I talk to her'.
- Position des Pronoms COIA2 — Where indirect object pronouns sit in the sentence — before the verb, before the auxiliary, before the infinitive, after the verb in affirmative imperatives. The placement rules are identical to direct object pronouns; only the form differs.
- Order of Multiple Pronouns Before the VerbB1 — When two or three pronouns stack in front of a French verb, their order is fixed by the slot they belong to: me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en. Memorize the slots and the order takes care of itself.
- Les Pronoms Compléments d'Objet Direct (COD)A1 — Direct object pronouns — me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les — replace the noun the verb acts on. They sit in front of the verb, not after, and that single fact reshapes how French sentences are built.