Possessive pronouns

English his and hers mark the owner; French marks the object. Voiture is feminine, so a man's car is la sienne and mine is la mienne whoever I happen to be. Le sien on its own can mean his, hers or its, and the form tells you nothing whatsoever about the person.

Notre and votre are the adjectives and sit in front of a noun. Le nôtre and le vôtre are the pronouns, they carry a circumflex, and they are pronounced with a closed o. Votre jardin est plus grand que le nôtre uses both. Dropping the accent is a real error, not a typo.

The le and les of a possessive pronoun fuse with à and de like any other article: à + le tien is au tien, de + les leurs is des leurs. La never contracts, which is why the French toast is à la vôtre.

After être, c'est à moi and c'est le mien both mean it's mine. C'est à moi is the plain answer to à qui ? (whose?); c'est le mien picks yours out from others. As a subject or an object only le mien works: prends la mienne, take mine.