"It is his water."

Translation: C'est son eau.

[Ange335]

in the exercises concerning adjectives I came over the expression 'l'eau est claire' that means that water in French is feminine. And now here I see 'son eau' that is quite opposite as 'son' is masculine. Can anyone explain this? Thank you in advance

[georgeoftruth]

A singular noun starting with a vowel or a mute H always uses the masculine form of the possession (mon, ton, son). This is to avoid the conflicting vowel sounds. Gender doesn't matter here.

• sa eau → son eau
• ma amie → mon amie
• ta horloge → ton horloge

But keep in mind that if an adjective (that starts with a consonant) goes between the possessive and the noun, the rules go back to normal.

• mon petite amie → ma petite amie
• ton grande horloge → ta grande horloge

[Ange335]

Merci beaucoup, you were really helpful!

[jzsuzsi]

The Duolingo message is wrong here. When I write "C'est sa eau", it gives the error message
" "eau" is masculine, not feminine."

But it should be: eau if feminine, but starts with a vowel sound, so you have to use the masculine form.

[Vladimir185345]

I put "sa de l'eau"

[georgeoftruth]

You don't need an article with possessions.