vôtre

Vôtre is a possessive pronoun in French, used to refer to something belonging to the person or people being addressed. It functions as the stand-alone equivalent of the noun phrase your own, and it is distinct from the determiner votre, which means your when placed before a noun.

The determiner form is votre, used before a noun: votre livre, votre voiture. The corresponding pronominal forms, which replace a noun phrase, are le vôtre (masculine singular), la vôtre (feminine singular), and les vôtres (plural). For example: Le vôtre est sur la table; La vôtre est plus petite; Les vôtres peuvent venir demain. The pronunciation is generally the same as votre, but the circumflex on the o signals the historic spelling from older forms such as vostre/vostre.

Etymology and orthography: Vôtre derives from Old French vostre, itself from Latin vos/vester meaning “your.” The circumflex on o (ô) marks the historic loss of an s after the vowel in the evolution from vostre to vôtre. The determiner form is votre (without a circumflex). The pronoun forms are most commonly found in writing, especially in formal, literary, or legal contexts, and are used to emphasize ownership when the noun has already been mentioned or is understood from context.

Usage notes: In modern everyday speech, speakers may prefer the simpler votre preceding a noun and use ce livre est à vous instead of a pronoun like le vôtre in some contexts. The pronoun forms are still correct and clear when a noun has been previously referenced and needs to be avoided repeating it.