FromMiddle Bretonleur, fromOld Bretonlor, fromProto-Brythonic*llọr, fromProto-Celtic*ɸlārom, fromProto-Indo-European*pleh₂rom,*ploh₂rom, ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*pleh₂-. Cognate withCornishleur,Irishlár,Manxlaare,Scottish Gaeliclàr, andWelshllawr.
FromMiddle Cornishluer, fromOld Cornishlor, fromProto-Brythonic*llọr, fromProto-Celtic*ɸlārom, fromProto-Indo-European*pleh₂rom,*ploh₂rom, ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*pleh₂-. Cognate withBretonleur,Irishlár,Manxlaare,Scottish Gaeliclàr, andWelshllawr.Doublet offlour(“deck”).
Inherited fromMiddle Frenchleur, fromOld Frenchlor, fromLatinillōrum, genitive masculine plural ofille.
As a possessive it was originally uninflected (as still isItalianloro), but adopted the plural ending in Middle French. Feminine-e was hindered by the analogy of other possessives, all of which have but one plural form and in the case ofnotre,votre no gender agreement at all.
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| number | person | gender | nominative (subject) | accusative (direct complement) | dative (indirect complement) | locative (at) | genitive (of) | disjunctive (tonic)1 | emphatic reflexive | relative | proximal | distal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | first | — | je,j’ | me,m’ | — | — | moi | moi-même | — | |||
| second | — | tu | te,t’ | — | — | toi | toi-même | — | ||||
| third | masculine | il2 | le,l’ | lui | y | en | lui | lui-même | celui | celui-ci | celui-là | |
| feminine | elle | la,l’ | elle | elle-même | celle | celle-ci | celle-là | |||||
| indeterminate | on3,l’on (formal),ce4,c’,ça | — | — | — | — | — | — | ce | ceci | cela,ça | ||
| reflexive | — | se,s’5 | — | — | soi | soi-même | — | |||||
| plural | first | — | nous | nous | — | — | nous | nous-mêmes | — | |||
| second6 | — | vous | vous | — | — | vous | vous-mêmes, vous-même6 | — | ||||
| third | masculine | ils7 | les | leur | y | en | eux7 | eux-mêmes7 | ceux | ceux-ci | ceux-là | |
| feminine | elles | elles | elles-mêmes | celles | celles-ci | celles-là | ||||||
1 The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’,à,pour,chez,dans,vers,sur,sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
2Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
3On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
4 The nominal indeterminate formce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verbêtre as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
5 The reflexive third person singular forms (se ors’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
6Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonicvous-mêmes becomes singularvous-même.
7Ils,eux andeux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.
| possessee | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |||||
| m | f | |||||
| possessor | singular | 1st | mon1 | ma | mes | |
| 2nd | ton1 | ta | tes | |||
| 3rd | son1 | sa | ses | |||
| plural | 1st | notre | nos | |||
| 2nd | votre2 | vos2 | ||||
| 3rd | leur | leurs | ||||
FromOld Frenchlor.
leur