Theirs or *Their’s | Meaning, Spelling & Use
Theirs is a third-person plural possessive pronoun.
“Their’s,” written with an apostrophe, is sometimes used instead of theirs. However, this is incorrect and should be avoided. While possession is usually indicated by adding ‘s to the end of a word, possessive pronouns don’t take an apostrophe.
- I enjoyed my dessert, but Tina and Jay didn’t enjoy their’s.
- I enjoyed my dessert, but Tina and Jay didn’t enjoy theirs.
- That’s not our car, it’s their’s.
- That’s not our car, it’s theirs.
Table of contents
How to use theirs in a sentence
As a possessive pronoun, theirs is used in place of a noun to indicate ownership of something by someone else. It’s closely related to the possessive determiner “their.” However, while “their” is always used before a noun to indicate possession, theirs is never used to modify a noun.
Hannah and Tim can’t find their luggage.
Other interesting language articles
If you want to know more about commonly confused words, definitions, and differences between US and UK spellings, make sure to check out some of our other language articles with explanations, examples, and quizzes.
Definitions
US vs. UK spellings
Cite this Scribbr article
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Ryan, E. (2023, March 14). Theirs or *Their’s | Meaning, Spelling & Use. Scribbr. Retrieved May 29, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/common-mistakes/theirs-or-theirs/
