Isn't the pronoun supposed to match the noun genre? If "image" is feminine shouldn't we use "ta"?
2 Answers
Ta is generally used for feminine nouns and ton for masculine nouns… but before a vowel sound, ta is never used. In French hiatuses are commonly avoided by resorting to elisions or other grammatical artifices.
Thus, “ton image”, pronounced /tɔ̃.n‿i.maʒə/
, just like “ton idée”, “ton ubiquité”, “ton histoire”…
Similarly the possessive articles ma and sa become mon and son before vowel sounds.
In addition to Stéphane's answer, I would say that it is very similar to the "n" in "an" before a noun in English.
You say "an action" or "an elevator" because it's easier to enunciate than "a action" or "a elevator".
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Euphonically, it's not just very similar, it is the same principle; otherwise, it's the cause of a horrible transgression on fundamental rules, that personnally I'd soon do away with ; who knows whether modifications of the possessives in a way similar to the modification of the English article wouldn't be a much happier choice : "mann", "tann", "sann". After all, we do have to say "[mon nimage]" ; is it not much less extravagant to say "[mann nimage]" from the poinnt of view of grammar ?– LPHJan 28, 2019 at 17:42