les/ses

Question

"François reste dehors, ________ chaussures couvertes de boue."I still don't understand why "les" is the answer but not "ses". Please explain, thanks!

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Manda,
In this sentence, you will use 'les' instead of 'ses' as it is referring to an item of clothing (shoes) and because there are no ambiguity as to whom the shoes belong to.
See link to a previous answer: le-garcon-rentre-les-vetements-sales
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Wanda Austinpeters · Answer

How do we know that he was not carrying in dirty shoes that were expected to be clean.

How would one say, "He came in, the shoes were dirty.", not meaning HIS shoes?

There IS ambiguity as to whose shoes they belong to.