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Ce passager cherche un passeport parce qu'il a perdu le sien.

Ce passager cherche un passeport parce qu'il a perdu le sien.
This passenger is looking for a passport because he lost his.
From Lesson 104:Possessive pronouns (le mien, le tien...)·French

Questions & Answers about Ce passager cherche un passeport parce qu'il a perdu le sien.

Why do we use le sien at the end of the sentence?
Le sien is a possessive pronoun meaning "his" (or "hers"). It is used here to avoid repeating the word passport. Because un passeport is a masculine singular noun, the pronoun replacing it must also be masculine singular, which is le sien.
Why isn't there a word for "for" after cherche?
The verb chercher translates directly to "to look for" or "to search for". Because the "for" is already built into the meaning of the verb, you never need to add a preposition like pour after it.
What tense is a perdu?
This is the passé composé (perfect tense), which we use for completed past actions like "lost". It is formed with the helping verb avoir (il a) plus the past participle of the verb perdre (to lose), which is perdu.
Could we write cet passager instead of ce passager?
No, because passager starts with a consonant. The demonstrative adjective cet (meaning "this" or "that") is only used before masculine singular nouns that start with a vowel or a silent H. For masculine words starting with a consonant, we always use ce.

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