Nous souffrons de son manque d'attention. Query regarding use of 'son'

Question

Could someone please enlighten me as why 'son' is used in this sentence. If the sentence was, 'We suffer from THEIR lack of attention', then, son is replaced by leur. What is the grammatical basis for this structure?

Accepted Answer

Hi Andrea, 
The only sentence in the lesson is -
Nou souffrons de son manque d'attention = We are suffering from her/his lack of attention 
Here is the Kwiziq lesson regarding the possessive adjectives 'son' -
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/use-mon-ma-mes-ton-ta-tes-son-sa-ses-to-say-my-your-his-her-possessive-adjectives
But if you wanted to say -
Nous souffrons de leur manque d'attention = We are suffering from their lack of attention
Hope this helps!

Answer

Here are the possessive pronouns (singular -- plural):

mon/ma/mes -- notre/nos
ton/ta/tes -- votre/vos
son/sa/ses -- leur/leurs

Depending on who is the "owner" (I, you, he, us, you or they), you choose which kind of pronoun you need. If something belongs to me, I use the mon/ma/mes group. Is something blongs to him/her/it, you use the son/sa/ses group and so on. The gender and number of the object that is being owned determines which specific pronoun you choose from the group.

If it is his lack, the "his" part asks for the son/sa/ses group. Then you look at le manque, which is masculine and singular, so you need son.

Answer

I guess it's : They're worried about his careless, or her careless  , for that they used (son).