The 's-genitive
This is the woman's new house
Sometimes you will need to express a possessive relation between people or things. This means telling if someone/something belongs to someone/something.
In this case, you use an "'s" after the noun or the name. Take a look at the following example:
You have a book. But it is not your book, it is your friend's book. This means: the book belongs to your friend.
You add an 's to the noun that someone/something belongs to. Don't forget the apostrophe ' :
- Anna's room: the room that belongs to Anna
- her mother's bedroom: the bedroom that her mother sleeps in
- the dog's coat: the coat that the dog has
- the boy's bike: the bike that belongs to the boy
- the woman's shoe: the shoe that belongs to the woman
When the noun ends with the letter s, you do not need to add another 's. Only add an apostrophe:
- Andreas' room NOT: Andreas's room
- Thomas' bike NOT: Thomas's bike
In addition, if the noun is in the plural form and ends with the letter s, do not add another 's. Only add an apostrophe:
- the boys' shirts: the shirts that belong to more than one boy
- the girls' hats: the hats that belong to more than one girl
- the schools' principals: the principals of many schools
Compare: the girl's hats: the hats that belong to one girl
the girls' hats; the hats that belong to more than one girl
In spoken language, you can also use the 's-genitive without a noun following it, especially when you talk about a house or an apartment that belongs to someone:
- I'm going to Johnny's. Then everybody knows that you talk about Johnny's place or house.
- Meet me at Julia's.
- I'm staying at Thomas' tonight.
- I'm going to Maria's.
- He's staying at the Smith's today.
Practise the 's-genitive. Read the following sentences. Then decide what you need:
- the possessive 's;
- a plural s' with an apostrophe;
- only an apostrophe '.