leur

Leur is a common word in French with two primary functions: as a possessive determiner before a noun, and as an indirect object pronoun. The two uses share a common origin in Old French, and today they appear in distinct syntactic positions within sentences.

As a possessive determiner, leur marks ownership for a singular noun in the third person plural. It precedes the noun and agrees in number only with the noun it modifies, not with the owner. Examples: leur livre (their book), leur maison (their house). When the noun is plural, the form changes to leurs: leurs livres, leurs maisons. The possessive determiner does not indicate gender, so it looks the same for masculine or feminine nouns in the singular.

As an indirect object pronoun, leur means “to them” and refers to a third-person plural indirect object. It appears before a conjugated verb and remains unchanged regardless of the gender or number of the people referred to. Examples: Je leur parle. Nous leur avons envoyé une invitation. In negative constructions: Je ne leur ai pas parlé. In questions: Leur as-tu écrit?

Distinctions and pitfalls: the same spelling, leur, covers both uses but they occupy different syntactic positions and have different inflection patterns (leur versus leurs as possessive determiners). Learners should distinguish possessive usage (before a noun) from indirect object usage (before a verb). Etymologically, the forms originate from Old French and have evolved into their modern, overlapping spellings in contemporary French.