Leur vs Leurs

SidC1Kwiziq community member

Leur vs Leurs

J'écrirai à mes cousines. Je leur écrirai bientôt.I

As "cousines" is plural, is there a reason for saying leur instead of leurs? 

Perhaps I have misunderstood the rule.

Asked 1 year ago
MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Leur is the plural indirect object pronoun in 3rd person. You may be confusing its use with the possessive adjectives, leur and leurs: 

Using lui/leur = him or her/them (French Indirect Object Pronouns)

 

Notre/nos/votre/vos/leur/leurs = our/your/their (French Possessive Adjectives)

ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Just to add some examples to Maarten's explanation:

Je leur écrirais. -- I'll write (to) them. Leur is the indirect object pronoun denoting a group of people. It is always leur and never leurs.
Je leur donne leurs livres. -- I'm giving them their books. The first leur is again the indirect object pronoun. The second leurs is the possessive pronoun. It has the -s ending because it matches livres (boos), which is plural.
Je leur donne leur livre. -- I'm giving them their book. The first leur is again the indirect object pronoun. This time, it is only one book, so the second leur is in singular, without the -s.

Leur vs Leurs

J'écrirai à mes cousines. Je leur écrirai bientôt.I

As "cousines" is plural, is there a reason for saying leur instead of leurs? 

Perhaps I have misunderstood the rule.

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