Nos or Notre with On

Question

So which one is it? The examples say to use nos or notre with on. I did exactly that in the test and got it wrong. It would be useful to know when to use one and when the other one with on.

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour Donna,

"Notre" will be used when it refers to a singular word:

On mange notre dessert = We are eating our dessert
dessert is masculine singular
On mange notre glace = We are eating our ice-cream
glace is feminine singular

"Nos" will be used when it refers to a plural word:

On range nos affaires = We're tidying up our stuff
affaires is feminine plural
On range nos vêtements = We're putting our clothes away
vêtements masculine plural
-> Here, "on" means "we".
 
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Chris Wirt · Answer

Without the specific question from the test it's hard to give advice.

Anne Davies · Answer

Thinking about Céline’s reply, I think the issue is complicated by the fact that  possessive pronouns are treated differently in French and English. So although there may be many ice creams, because we each have one, it’s notre glace whereas because we each have more than one garment, it’s nos vêtements. (Another example would be notre nez and nos yeux).