's

See also: -'s and Appendix:Variations of "s"

English

For the possessive ’s, see -'s.

Alternative forms

• ’s

Etymology

Contractions of various words ending in s.

Pronunciation

• (after voiceless consonants except /s/, /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/) enPR: s, IPA^(key): /s/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (after a sibilant or affricate)
  • (UK) enPR: ĭz, IPA^(key): /ɪz/
  • (US) enPR: ĭz, əz, IPA^(key): /ɪz/, /əz/
  • (General Australian) enPR: əz, IPA^(key): /əz/
• (elsewhere) enPR: z, IPA^(key): /z/
• Homophone: -s

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Verb

’s (clitic)

1. Contraction of is.

   The dog’s running after me!

2. Contraction of has.

   The dog’s been chasing the mail carrier again.

3. (proscribed, dialectal, Southern US) Contraction of was.

   It’s a beautiful day yesterday so I’s at the park.

4. (informal) Contraction of does, used only with the auxiliary meaning of does and only after interrogative words.

   What’s he do for a living?

   What’s it say?

   How’s it work?

   Where’s the n in Javanese come from?

Usage notes

• Like 've, in many dialects, -'s is only used to mark the perfect aspect ("He's finished his work" = "He has finished his work"), not to signify possession ("She has something"), necessity ("It has to end"), etc. In others, 's is used more broadly; this is sometimes proscribed.

Derived terms

• so's

Related terms

• s' (“it's; is”)

See also

• apostrophe
• contraction
• 'd, ’d
• 'll, ’ll
• 'm, ’m
• 're, ’re
• -'s, -’s
• 've, ’ve

Pronoun

’s (clitic)

1. Contraction of us, found in the formula let's which is used to form first-person plural imperatives.

   What are you guys waiting for? Let’s go!

   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 277, column 2:

     Wee'le part the time betweene's then: and in that
     Ile no gaine-ſaying.

Determiner

’s

1. (poetic) Contraction of his.

   Duncan’s in ’s grave

Conjunction

’s

1. (UK, dialect) Contraction of as, when it is (nonstandardly) used as a relative conjunction, or like a relative pronoun, meaning "that".

   All’s he wanted was to go home.

Derived terms

• all's
• so's

Adverb

’s (not comparable)

1. (UK, dialect) Contraction of as.
   • 1922, E. F. Benson, Negotium Perambulans:

     He takes his bottle of whisky a day and gets drunk’s a lord in the evening.

Bavarian

Etymology 1

Unstressed form of des.

Pronoun

's

1. it (nominative and accusative)
2. this, that

See also

Bavarian personal pronouns

		nominative		accusative		dative
		stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
1st person singular		i	—	mi	—	mia (mir)	ma
2nd person singular	informal	du	—	di	—	dia (dir)	da
	formal	Sie	—	Eahna	—	Eahna	—
3rd person singular	m	er	a	eahm	'n	eahm	'n
	n	es, des	's	des	's
	f	se, de	's	se	's	ihr	—
1st person plural		mia (mir)	ma	uns	—	uns	—
2nd person plural		eß, ihr	—	enk, eich	—	enk, eich	—
3rd person plural		se	's	eahna	—	eahna	—

Article

's n

1. the

See also

Bavarian articles

		singular						plural
		masculine		neuter		feminine
		stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
definite	nominative	der, da	—	das, es, des	's	de	d'	de	d'
	accusative	en, den	'n
	dative	em, dem	'm	em, dem	'm	der, da	—
	genitive1	des		des		der, da		der, da
indefinite	nominative	a	—	a	—	a	—	—
	accusative	an	'n
	dative	am	'm	am	'm	a, ana	'na

¹ higher, formal register

Etymology 2

Unstressed form of se.

Pronoun

's

1. she
2. they, them

See also

Bavarian personal pronouns

		nominative		accusative		dative
		stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed	stressed	unstressed
1st person singular		i	—	mi	—	mia (mir)	ma
2nd person singular	informal	du	—	di	—	dia (dir)	da
	formal	Sie	—	Eahna	—	Eahna	—
3rd person singular	m	er	a	eahm	'n	eahm	'n
	n	es, des	's	des	's
	f	se, de	's	se	's	ihr	—
1st person plural		mia (mir)	ma	uns	—	uns	—
2nd person plural		eß, ihr	—	enk, eich	—	enk, eich	—
3rd person plural		se	's	eahna	—	eahna	—

Catalan

Pronoun

's

1. contraction of se

Usage notes

• 's is the reduced (reduïda) form of the pronoun. It is used after verbs ending with a vowel.

  Si us plau, calmi's. ― Please calm down.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

			strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
				proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
singular	1st person	standard	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
		majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
	2nd person	standard	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
		formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
		very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
	3rd person	m	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
		f	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
		n		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
plural
	1st person		nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
	2nd person	standard	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
		formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
	3rd person	m	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
		f	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive			si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial	ablative/genitive			en, n’	-ne, ’n
	locative			hi	-hi

¹ Behaves grammatically as plural.   ² Behaves grammatically as third person.
³ Only as object of a preposition.   ⁴ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Cimbrian

Etymology 1

Article

's

1. (Sette Comuni) the; definite article for two declensions:
   1. nominative singular neuter
   2. accusative singular neuter

Alternative forms

• z (Luserna)

See also

Cimbrian definite articles

	singular			plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	dar	de / di	's / z	de / di
accusative	in	de / di	's / z	de / di
dative	me	dar	me	in

Etymology 2

Pronoun

's

1. (Sette Comuni) alternative form of es (“it”)

References

• “'s” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Cornish

Etymology 1

Determiner

's

1. her

Pronoun

's

1. her

   Hi a's kwelas.

   She saw her.

Etymology 2

Determiner

's

1. their

Pronoun

's

1. them

   Hi a's kwelas.

   She saw them.

Etymology 3

From 'gas

Pronoun

's

1. Reduced form of 'gas

See also

Cornish personal pronouns

number	person		independent (subject)	suffixed			infixed	possessive (dependent)
				enclitic	emphatic	reduced
singular	first		my	vy	evy	ma, a	'm	owA
	second		ty	jy, sy1	tejy	ta, a	'thM	dhaS
	third2	m	ev	ev	eev	va, a	'n	yS
		f	hi	hi	hyhi	—	's	hyA
plural	first		ni	ni	nyni		'gan, 'n	agan, 'gan
	second3		hwi	hwi	hwyhwi		'gas, 's	agas, 'gas
	third		i	i	ynsi		's	agaA, 'gaA

¹ Uncommon.
² hun and ins have been suggested as non-binary 3rd person singular pronouns, though these have not yet officially adopted.
³ Infrequently used as a formal alternative to the singular.

^S Triggers soft mutation ^A Triggers aspirate mutation ^M Triggers mixed mutation

Dutch

Etymology 1

A clitic form of des, the genitive of the masculine and neuter singular articles de and het.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s/

• Audio:

  (file)

Article

’s

1. contraction of des

   ’s Konings baard ruikt naar uiensoep. ― The king's beard smells like onion soup.

   ’s morgens ― in the morning

   ’s werelds beste reisbestemming ― the world’s best travel destination

   ’s werelds mooiste zeereis ― the world’s most beautiful sea voyage

Usage notes

• As ’s is still conceptualized as a contraction of des, it is never capitalised, even before a proper noun or at the start of sentences. Instead, the following word is capitalised, as in 's Morgens regent het ("It rains in the morning").
• Now hardly used, except in certain cases:

  In genitive absolute phrases: ’s ochtends, ’s morgens, ’s middags, ’s avonds, ’s nachts, ’s zomers, and ’s winters.

  In other set phrases, such as placenames: ’s Hertogenbosch, ’s Gravenhage, and ’s-Heerenberg.

  With locations or entities when forming superlative phrases: ’s werelds beste kok ("the world's finest cook"), ’s lands mooiste dorp ("the country's most beautiful village").

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əs/, /ɪs/, /s/

Adverb

's

2. clipping of eens (“once”)

German

Article

’s

1. (chiefly colloquial or poetic) contraction of das

   Ich nehm’s Auto und er nimmt’s Fahrrad.

   I’ll take the car and he’ll take the bike.

Usage notes

• This contraction is frequent in southern areas. It is also heard in northern and central Germany, but less often and chiefly only when not creating complex consonant clusters. For example, the above form nimmt’s would tend to be avoided in the north, even though the same is usual for nimmt es (see below).
• After prepositions, where the contraction of the article is normal even in formal prose, it is written without an apostrophe: ins, ans, aufs, etc. Apostrophized spellings of these are sometimes encountered, but are nonstandard.

Pronoun

’s

1. (chiefly colloquial or poetic) contraction of es
2. (chiefly colloquial or poetic) contraction of das

Usage notes

• This contraction is frequent everywhere, though the tolerance of difficult clusters is yet a little greater in the south. For example, northern speakers usually avoid contraction after the verb ending -st, whereas southerners readily say hast’s, siehst’s, and the like.

Verb

’s

1. (colloquial) contraction of ist

   Synonyms: is', is

   • c. 2017, User bemoty, “Songtext zu „Meine Brille“”, in www.genius.com‎, retrieved 11 October 2025, transcription of the 2014 song “Meine Brille” by Mateo Jasik:

     W-Wenn ich chille, dann nur mit Sonnenbrille (oh, meine Brille!) / Ich setz’ sie auf, seh’ Hammer aus, sie’s meine zweite Haut

     I only ever chill in sunglasses (oh, my glasses!) / I put them on, look great in them, they're my second skin

See also

• -'s

Irish

Conjunction

’s

1. contraction of is (“and”)

Particle

’s

1. contraction of is (“is”)

Noun

’s

1. contraction of a +‎ fhios, literally “knowledge of it”: only used in tá's ag and similar constructions

North Frisian

Pronoun

's

1. reduced third-person plural personal pronoun
   1. (Föhr-Amrum) Reduced form of of jo (“they, them”)
   2. (Mooring, Sylt) Reduced form of of ja (“they”, in Mooring also “them”)
   3. (Mooring, Sylt) Reduced form of of jam (“them”)
2. reduced third-person singular feminine pronoun
   1. (Mooring, Sylt) Reduced form of of jü (“she”)
   2. (Mooring) Reduced form of of har (“her”)
   3. (Sylt) Reduced form of of höör (“her”)

Alternative forms

• (she, her): 't (Föhr-Amrum)

See also

Personal and possessive pronouns (Föhr-Amrum dialect)

			personal					possessive
			subject case		object case			masculine referent	feminine / neuter referent	plural referent
			full	reduced	full	reduced				attributive	independent
singular	1st		ik	'k	mi			man	min		minen
	2nd		dü	–	di			dan	din		dinen
	3rd	m	hi	'r	ham	'n		san	sin		sinen
		f or n	hat	at, 't		at, 't
plural	1st		wi	'f	üs			üüs			üüsen
								üsens
	2nd		jam	'm	jam			jau			jauen
								jamens
	3rd		jo	's	jo	's		hör			hören
								hörens

• The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts.
• At is not enclitic; it can stand in any unstressed position and refers mostly to things. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur.
• Dual forms wat / onk and jat / jonk are obsolete, as is feminine jü / hör.
• Independent possessives are distinguished from attributive ones only with plural referents.
• The forms üsens, jamens, hörens are used optionally (and decreasingly) when the possessor is a larger community, such as a village, city or nation.

Personal and possessive pronouns (Mooring dialect)

			personal					possessive
			subject case		object case			masculine referent	feminine / neuter / plural referent
			full	reduced	full	reduced
singular	1st		ik	'k	me			man	min
	2nd		dü	–	de			dan	din
	3rd	m	hi	'r	ham	'n		san	sin
		f	jü	's	har	's		harn	har
		n	hat	et, 't	ham	et, 't		san	sin
plural	1st		we		üs			üüsen	üüs
	2nd		jam	'm	jam			jarnge
	3rd		ja	's	ja, jam	's		jare

The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts.
Et is not enclitic and can stand in any unstressed position; the full subject form hat is now rarely used. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur.
Dual forms wat / unk and jat / junk are obsolete. Attributive and independent possessives are not distinguished in Mooring.

Personal and possessive pronouns (Sylt dialect)

			personal					possessive
			subject case		object case			singular referent	plural referent
			full	reduced	full	reduced			attributive	independent
singular	1st		ik	'k	mi			min		minen
	2nd		dü	–	di			din		dinen
	3rd	m	hi	'r	höm	'n		sin		sinen
		f	jü	's	höör	's		höör		höören
		n	hat	et, 't	höm	et, 't		sin		sinen
dual	1st		wat		unk		unk		unken
	2nd		at		junk		junk		junken
	3rd		jat		jam	's	jaar		jaaren
plural	1st		wü		üüs		üüs		üüsen
	2nd		i		juu		juu		juuen
	3rd		ja	's	jam	's	jaar		jaaren

• The reduced forms with an apostrophe are enclitic; they immediately follow verbs or conjunctions. Dü is deleted altogether in such contexts.
• Et is not enclitic and can stand in any unstressed position; the full subject form hat is now rarely used. In reflexive use, only full object forms occur.
• The dual forms are dated, but not obsolete as in other dialects.
• Independent possessives are distinguished from attributive ones only with plural referents.

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s̪/ (after a back vowel sound)
• IPA^(key): /ʃ/ (after a front vowel sound)

Verb

's

1. contraction of is (“is”)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s̪/

Conjunction

's

1. contraction of is (“and”)

References

• Armstrong, R. A. (1825), “'s”, in A Gaelic Dictionary, in Two Parts‎, London, →OCLC, page 478