Use of Nos and Notre

Question

In the test Nous voyageons dans ________ propre voiture – ‘notre’ is stated as the
correct answer, not ‘nos’

However, in the learn and discuss - Nous avons nos passeports
is stated as correct.

What is the difference?

Maarten Kamp · Answer

Bruce,

the form of the possessive adjective used in French is determined both by the possessor and by the number of possessions.

When the subject pronoun (possessor) is ‘ nous ‘, the 2 options are

‘ notre ‘ for a singular possession - ‘ notre propre voiture ‘ ( there is only one car )

and

‘ nos ‘ for plural possessions - nos passeports ( there are 2 or more passports )

From the lesson :

Notice that to express our, your and their, you use the possessive adjectives notre/nos, votre/vos, leur/leurs, as following:

SingularPluralournotre
nosyour (vous)votre
vos
theirleur
leurs

Note the similarity of the forms.

IMPORTANT: The first letter is determined by the owner (n =our; v =your, l =their) etc. but the rest of the adjective is related to the number of the thing that is possessed.