notre

Notre is a French possessive determiner meaning our. It accompanies a noun to indicate ownership by the speaker and at least one other person. It agrees in number with the noun it modifies rather than with the owner: before a singular noun, masculine or feminine, the form is notre (for example, notre père, notre amie); before a plural noun, the form is nos (for example, nos enfants).

In use, notre can modify any noun regardless of the possessor’s gender, and it reflects the speaker’s inclusive group. The word itself does not change with the gender of the possessor; the agreement is with the noun’s number. Its position is directly before the noun, as in notre maison or nos maisons.

Etymology traces Notre back to Latin notābst ornoster forms, evolving in Old French before arriving at the modern possessive determiner notre. It belongs to a class of possessive adjectives that also includes ton/ta/tes (your) and son/sa/ses (his/her/its), all of which agree with the noun they accompany.

In writing, notre is usually lowercase in ordinary text. In fixed expressions or official names, it may appear capitalized as part of a proper noun, notably in religious or institutional names such as Notre-Dame de Paris, where the initial capital N is customary as part of the proper noun.