Possessive 's (A1)

1. What Is Possessive ’s?

You use possessive ’s to show who something belongs to.

Common uses:

Ownership/relationship:
- Maria’s bag (= the bag that belongs to Maria)
- Adam’s sister (= the sister of Adam)

Pattern: owner + ’s + thing → Sarah’s bag / Tom’s car
(Write the person’s name or noun, then ’s, then the thing they have.)

The rule depends on whether the owner is singular or plural, and how the word ends.

For one person, animal, or name (not ending in -s), add ’s:

The cat's toy is under the sofa.

For names ending in any letter except -s, add ’s:

Daniel's backpack is on the chair.

For names ending in -s, you can write ’s or just ’. Both are correct. In this course we use ’s:

Chris's bicycle is new.

For regular plural owners, first form the plural (add -s to the noun), then add only an apostrophe after the -s:

The students' classroom is on the second floor.

If the plural does not end in -s (for example, children, men), add ’s:

The children's playground is very big.