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Year 8

How people celebrate: 'son, sa, ses' meaning 'his', 'her', 'your (in general)'

Learning outcomes

I can say more about how people celebrate using 'son, sa, ses' to mean 'his, her' or 'your, their (in general)'.

I can recognise and pronounce the sound [om]/[on] and know when to use each spelling.

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New
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Year 8

How people celebrate: 'son, sa, ses' meaning 'his', 'her', 'your (in general)'

Learning outcomes

I can say more about how people celebrate using 'son, sa, ses' to mean 'his, her' or 'your, their (in general)'.

I can recognise and pronounce the sound [om]/[on] and know when to use each spelling.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. The SSC [om] is the same sound as [on], like in 'non' and 'nom'.
  2. When this sound appears in front of the letters -p or -b, it is spelled with [om] instead of [on].
  3. To say 'his', 'her' we use the possessive adjectives 'son' (masculine) 'sa' (feminine) or 'ses' (plural).
  4. Possessive adjectives agree with the noun that follows so we often need context to identify the 'possessor'.
  5. 'Son', 'sa' 'ses' can also mean 'your' or 'their' when talking about things belonging to people in general.

Keywords

  • [om] - SSC like the [om] sound in 'nom' which means 'name'

  • [on] - SSC like the [on] in 'non' which means 'no'

  • Possessive adjective - a word that goes before a noun to show ownership or belonging

  • Son, sa, ses - possessive adjectives for 'his, her' and 'your, their' (in general)

Common misconception

The possessive adjective 'son, sa, ses' matches the person who owns the noun that follows. So 'his' is 'son, 'her' is 'sa' and 'their' is 'ses'.

In French, the possessive pronoun matches the noun that follows it, not the person to whom the object belongs. This is why sometimes you cannot tell whether the owner is male or female because the words for 'his' and 'her' are the same in French.


To help you plan your year 8 french lesson on: How people celebrate: 'son, sa, ses' meaning 'his', 'her', 'your (in general)', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

This lesson features the French celebration 'la Fête Nationale' which takes place on July 14th, teachers may wish to explore this important date with their students in more detail.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the French and English.
Correct Answer:le frère,the brother
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the brother

Correct Answer:la sœur,the sister
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the sister

Correct Answer:l'amie,the friend
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the friend

Correct Answer:le chien,the dog
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the dog

Correct Answer:la famille,the family
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the family

Correct Answer:l'animal,the animal
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the animal

Q2.
Match the French and English.
Correct Answer:la fête,the party, celebration
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the party, celebration

Correct Answer:les vacances,holidays
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holidays

Correct Answer:le cadeau,the present
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the present

Correct Answer:la maison,the house
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the house

Q3.
Which words are adjectives?
Correct answer: bonne
bâtiment
jardin
Correct answer: nouvelle
Q4.
Put the first six months of the year in order.
1 - janvier
2 - février
3 - mars
4 - avril
5 - mai
6 - juin
Q5.
Which word is missing in this date? ' cinq mai'
Correct Answer: le
Q6.
Write in French: 'the first of January'.
Correct Answer: le premier janvier

6 Questions

Q1.
Put the last six months of the year in the correct order.
1 - juillet
2 - aout
3 - septembre
4 - octobre
5 - novembre
6 - décembre
Q2.
Match the French and English.
Correct Answer:organiser,to organise, organsing
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to organise, organsing

Correct Answer:chacun,each person
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each person

Correct Answer:général,general
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general

Correct Answer:anniversaire,birthday
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birthday

Q3.
What types of words are: 'son', 'sa', 'ses', 'mon', 'ma', 'mes'?
Correct Answer: possessive adjectives
Q4.
In which of these sentences does 'son, sa, ses' mean 'your' or 'their'?
Correct answer: On célèbre son anniversaire chaque année.
Il a ses amis à la maison.
Correct answer: Chacun a son jour préféré.
J'aime beaucoup sa voiture.
Q5.
Match the correct possessive adjective to each noun.
Correct Answer:mon,amie (my)
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amie (my)

Correct Answer:son,cadeau (his)
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cadeau (his)

Correct Answer:mes,sacs (my)
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sacs (my)

Correct Answer:sa,voiture (her)
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voiture (her)

Correct Answer:ses,vêtements (his)
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vêtements (his)

Correct Answer:ma,sœur (my)
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sœur (my)

Q6.
Write in French: 'His garden and her church'.
Correct Answer: Son jardin et son église.

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