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**Date:** June 26, 2024  
**Author:** [Olivia Thayer, M.A.](https://blog.duolingo.com/author/olivia/)

# When to use apostrophes in English  
English apostrophes are little marks with big responsibility. Here’s when to use them!

If you’ve ever been confused about apostrophes in English, you’re not alone. English uses apostrophes differently than other languages, and even native English speakers get confused about the rules sometimes.

Here are the basics of using apostrophes in English!

## English apostrophes have two main functions  
There are two main reasons to use an apostrophe in English.  
In English, apostrophes are used to show that a letter (or a group of letters, or numbers) has been omitted, or to talk about possession.

## Apostrophes for English contractions  
Let’s start with omissions. English is full of [contractions](https://blog.duolingo.com/do-other-languages-have-contractions/), two separate words that are combined into one. For example, _she_ and _is_ can turn into she’s, _I_ and _have_ can turn into I’ve, and—weirdly— _will_ and _not_ can turn into won’t!  
You’ll also use apostrophes when talking about a year. It’s common in English to omit the first two numbers of the year, so _the 1980s_ can turn into the ’80s, for example.

### Common contractions in English  
| [**Subject pronoun**](https://blog.duolingo.com/subject-pronouns-in-english/) | **Contracted form of _be_** | **Contracted form of _have_** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| I | I’m (I + am) | I’ve (I + have) |
| you | you’re (you + are) | you’ve (you + have) |
| he | he’s (he + is) | he’s (he + has) |
| she | she’s (she + is) | she’s (she + has) |
| it | it’s (it + is) | it’s (it + has) |
| we | we’re (we + are) | we’ve (we + have) |
| they | they’re (they + are) | they’ve (they + have) |
| who | who’s (who + is) | who’s (who + has) |

Because _had_, _would_, _will_, and _not_ don’t change form based on the subject, you’ll use the same contraction for all subjects: _-’d_ for _had_ and _would_, _-’ll_ for _will,_ and _-n’t_ for _not_. Check out these example sentences:

| **Contracted form** | **Full form** |
| --- | --- |
| I’d already been to Spain. | I had already been to Spain. |
| We’d go with you if you weren’t leaving so early. | We would go with you if you weren’t leaving so early. |
| She’ll call him this afternoon. | She will call him this afternoon. |
| He doesn’t like mushrooms. | He does not like mushrooms. |

### When to use contractions in English  
**_It’s_** important to note that contractions **_don’t_** happen all the time: **_They’re_** completely optional and are considered slightly informal, so even though **_you’ll_** probably see them in text messages, social media posts, and even sometimes in professional emails, you probably **_won’t_** see them on a CV. (Did you notice the five contractions in this paragraph?)  
There are also a few cases where using the _un_ contracted form is rare! For example, _**let’s**_, as in Let’s go to the movies tonight!, comes from the phrase _let us_, but you’re unlikely to hear _Let us go to the movies tonight_ in most dialects of English. The same is true for _**o’clock**_, as in My train is at five o’clock, which comes from _of the clock_.

## Apostrophes to show possession in English  
When talking about possession, how you use apostrophes will depend on whether the thing possessing something else is singular or plural.

### Singular possessives  
When the one doing the possessing is singular, add _-’s_, with the apostrophe _before_ the “s”:

| Possession with _-’s_ | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| the dog’s leash | the leash **that belongs to** the dog |
| my mom’s coat | the coat **that belongs to** my mom |
| Anna’s lunch | the lunch **that belongs to** Anna |

### Plural possessives  
_Most_ English plural nouns end in –s already, so instead of adding _-’s_ to a word that already ends in “s,” you’ll add the apostrophe _after_ the _-s_:

| Possession with apostrophe after the plural “s” | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| my cats’ beds | the beds **that belong to** my cats |
| his parents’ house | the house **that belongs to** his parents |
| my friends’ desks | the desks **that belong to** my friends |

There are some English nouns that _don’t_ end in “s” in the plural: For example, woman becomes women, man becomes men, child becomes children, mouse becomes mice, and fish remains fish. In these cases, add _-’s_ to the plural form of the noun!

| Possession with apostrophe for irregular plurals | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| the children’s books | the books **that belong to** the children |
| the mice’s cheese | the cheese **that belongs to** the mice |

### Apostrophes for possession: the exceptions  
Although it may seem counterintuitive, you _don’t_ use an apostrophe in the [possessive pronouns](https://blog.duolingo.com/possessive-pronouns-in-english/) _its_ and _whose_. But if you get tripped up sometimes, don’t worry! English speakers often swap _it’s_ and _its_ and _who’s_ and _whose_, too, even though they are words with completely different meanings. Check out the examples below to see the difference:

| English sentence | **Meaning** |
| --- | --- |
| The house has a roof, and its roof is red. | its roof = the roof **that belongs to** the house. |
| It’s a red roof. | It **is** a red roof. |
| I want to know whose cute dog this is! | I want to know **who** this cute dog **belongs to**! |
| Who’s the cutest dog in the world? | Who **is** the cutest dog in the world? |

## Pay attention to those little marks!  
These are the basic rules for using apostrophes in English, but don’t be surprised to see [variation among English speakers](https://blog.duolingo.com/language-discrimination/)! To practice the rules for contractions and possession, do your next English lesson on Duolingo—remember, _**it’s** not going to do **itself**!