Girls or Girls’ or Girl’s? (Helpful Examples)

Regular nouns have standard possessive forms you need to know about. The possessive form interacts with singular and plural forms slightly differently. This article will show you how to use the singular and plural forms of “girl” when “girl” owns an object.

Girls or Girls’ or Girl’s?

“Girls” is plural. You shouldn’t use it as a possessive form, but it’s good to refer to multiple girls (i.e. “I know three girls”). “Girls'” and “girl’s” are both possessive forms. “Girl’s bag” refers to one girl owning a “bag.” “Girls’ night” refers to multiple girls owning a “night.”

This guide should help you understand the basics of “girls” forms in your writing:

Singular	Girl
Plural	Girls
Singular possessive	Girl’s
Plural possessive	Girls’

Since “girl” is a regular noun, the possessive form rules are fairly easy to follow.

“Girl” becomes “girl’s” in both singular forms. The possessive form develops from an added apostrophe and an “s.”

“Girls” becomes “girls'” in both plural forms. This time, you only need an apostrophe after “girls.” “Girls” already ends with an “s,” so another “s” after the apostrophe would look bizarre. “Girls’s” is never correct.

Girl’s

“Girl’s” allows you to show that one “girl” owns something. You should use it when a single “girl” owns an item that comes directly after “girl’s.”

Technically, the item could come before (i.e. “this bag is the girl’s”) or after (i.e. “the girl’s bag”). However, it’s much more common for the object to appear after the possessive form.

• My girl’s basketball coach wants to talk to me. I don’t know what it’s about.
• How many of your girl’s games have you come to watch? You should be more supportive.

Girls’

“Girls'” shows that more than one “girl” owns an item or group of items. It’s common for the item to come straight after “girls'” to show where the direct connection between “girls” and the object comes from.

The plural possessive form works when referring to a group. The owned item doesn’t have to be a physical thing owned by the group. That’s why terms like “girls’ night” or “girls’ bathroom” work well here (even though you can’t actually own a “night”).

• This is the girls’ bathroom. How dare you come in here! You’re not one of us.
• I think we’re going to have a girls’ night tonight. You’re welcome to join us if you can spare the time!

Girls

“Girls” is the simplest form to use in this article. It has no possession involved with it. Instead, “girls” is the plural form, referring to more than one “girl.”

You cannot include owned objects before or after “girls.” It is only used when writing about more than one girl.

• I have the girls for the weekend. Would you be able to look after them during the day when I get back?
• She knew a lot of the girls from her school. They didn’t seem to want to talk to her, though.

Conclusion

You can use “girl’s” when a singular “girl” owns an item. You should use this to show that one girl owns something (which typically comes after “girl’s”).

“Girls'” does the same but refers to multiple “girls.” You can use it to show that many girls own something. Again, the item typically comes after “girls’.”