Possessive 's

What you'll learn

Use 's to say that something belongs to a person or is connected with that person.

owner + 's + thing

• Tom's phone
• Maria's bag
• my sister's room

Start with these examples

• This is Anna's coat.
• Where is the teacher's desk?
• My brother's birthday is in May.
• David's parents live in London.

Put 's after the owner

• the girl's bike
• my friend's car
• the doctor's office

The owner comes first. The thing comes after it.

• Maria's book
• the cat's bed
• my father's job

Names ending in s

For many names ending in s, use 's in simple A1 English.

• James's phone
• Carlos's bag

You may see other styles in books, but use 's consistently for now.

Possessive 's and plural -s are different

• the girl's bag = one girl
• the girls' bags = more than one girl

At A1, first focus on singular owners: the girl's bag.

Common mistakes

• the bag of Tom → Tom's bag
• Marias book → Maria's book
• the bag Tom's → Tom's bag
• my sister room → my sister's room

Quick check

• the phone of Sara → Sara's phone
• the room of my brother → my brother's room
• the desk of the teacher → the teacher's desk

Next step

Use possessive pronouns such as mine and yours when you do not want to repeat a noun.