Expressing Possession with "dont"
To connect two parts of a sentence by expressing possession, use the relative pronoun dont ("whose").
Unlike in English, where "whose" replaces the article (as in "whose husband"), in French, dont must always be followed by a definite article (le, la, l', or les) and then the noun.
| Here is the woman whose husband is very jealous. | Voici la femme dont le mari est très jaloux. |
| It is this man whose wife is always honest. | C'est cet homme dont l'épouse est toujours honnête. |
| I am looking at the neighbor whose niece is very sociable. | Je regarde le voisin dont la nièce est très sociable. |
Family and Character Traits
When you use dont to introduce a family member, any adjectives describing their personality must agree with that specific family member, not the person they belong to.
For example, if a male teacher has a jealous wife (l'épouse), the adjective will be feminine (jalouse).
| It is this teacher whose wife is jealous who is speaking. | C'est ce professeur dont l'épouse est jalouse qui parle. |
| The friend whose nephew is loyal is going to help me. | L'ami dont le neveu est fidèle va m'aider. |
| Do you know the girl whose brother is selfish? | Connaissez-vous la fille dont le frère est égoïste ? |
Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io