Of him/of her..

Question

I tried to translate 'It's not very nice of her', but I got the same response for 'It's not very nice of him' ( Ce ne pas tres gentil de sa part). Is this a generic response regardless of gender?

Accepted Answer

Hi Lamarch, 
Thank you for pointing this out, I have added 'her' to the English translation as indeed we don't who 'part' ( which is a feminine word)  refers to.
And it is all to do with how the possessive adjective 'son, sa, ses' works in French, for more information take a look at the following Kwiziq lesson -
Mon, ma, mes; ton, ta, tes; son, sa, ses = my; your; his / her (possessive adjectives)
Hope this helps!

Answer

Hi Lamach,The noun "part" is feminine and therefore the possessive adjective will be "sa" for either his or her.  (Adjective agreement with the noun)Hope this helps.Jim

Answer

Yes, Jim is correct and I agree that the example is confusing.. in stating that it means he without specifying who he is. If you wanted to specify the gender of the person/subject, you would need a different construction.. il/elle n'est pas gentil.. so, you are correct and this response is regardless of gender of the person it is referring to.