'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

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.

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.

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.

Derived terms

• Grimsby
• Grimshaw

 

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
2nd person singular (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

		m		n		f		pl
		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
2nd person singular (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
singular		proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
1st person	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
1st person majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
2nd person formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person masculine	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person feminine	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
3rd person neuter		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
plural
1st person	nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person masculine	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person feminine	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
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
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

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/, /s/

Adverb

's

1. Clipping of eens.

German

Article

’s

1. (chiefly colloquial or poetic) Contraction of das.

Pronoun

’s

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

Verb

’s

1. (colloquial) Contraction of ist.

   Synonym: is'

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 (“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
	3rd f. / 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
notes		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
	3rd f.	jü	's	har	's	harn	har
	3rd 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
notes		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
	3rd f.	jü	's	höör	's	höör		höören
	3rd n.	hat	et, 't	höm	et, 't	sin		sinen
dual	1st	wat		unk				unken
	2nd	at		junk				junken
	3rd	jat		jam	's	jaar		jaaren
plural	1st	wü		üüs				üüsen
	2nd	i		juu				juuen
	3rd	ja	's	jam	's	jaar		jaaren
notes		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

Pronunciation

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

Verb

's

1. Contraction of is (“is”).

Conjunction

's

1. Contraction of is (“and”).

References

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