Yesterdays or Yesterday’s? (Helpful Examples)

“Yesterday” is an interesting word. It can have both a plural and possessive form, and it depends entirely on the context that it comes up as to which you should use. This article will explain everything there is to know about the two forms.

Yesterdays or Yesterday’s?

“Yesterdays” is the plural form of “yesterday.” You can use it when referring to multiple “yesterdays.” For example, “there are always more yesterdays.” “Yesterday’s” is the singular possessive form, showing that “yesterday” owns an object. For example, “yesterday’s event.”

This table should help you to understand things better.

Singular	Yesterday
Plural	Yesterdays
Singular possessive	Yesterday’s
Plural possessive	Does not exist

“Yesterday” comes with a few tricky rules that you need to understand before using it. For starters, it is mainly used as a singular day. The idea is that there is only one “yesterday.”

It is grammatically correct to write “yesterdays” as a plural noun, but it’s very uncommon. You will find almost no situations where “yesterdays” is used because most people prefer it in the more familiar singular form.

However, the singular possessive form of “yesterday” follows all the expected rules. You can simply take the singular form and add an “‘s” to the end of it to show that “yesterday” owns an object.

There is no plural possessive form of “yesterday” because the plural form is already uncommon and jarring. You will never find a situation where “Yesterdays'” (which is the expected plural possessive form) can be used.

Yesterdays

“Yesterdays” is a very rare form, but it’s the plural form of “Yesterday.” You will rarely come across it unless someone is poetically referring to multiple “Yesterdays” in the same sentence.

Here’s how to use “yesterdays” in a sentence:

• There will be plenty more yesterdays in the future. I think you just need to look out for them.
• We were going through all of our yesterdays when we came across a few issues here and there.

However, it’s a very rare form, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense in most contexts. Most people who use “yesterdays” get it confused with the singular possessive form.

Here are some examples to help you learn when the possessive form should be used over the plural form:

• Correct: I want to see yesterday’s menu. Why are you refusing to show it to me?
• Incorrect: We were not here for yesterdays meeting. Please, tell me you recorded what was said.
• Correct: Yesterday’s news has already happened. We want to hear something more up-to-date.
• Incorrect: All of yesterdays evening papers have been taken. We can’t find anything to look into.

Yesterday’s

“Yesterday’s” is grammatically correct because it’s the singular possessive form of “yesterday.” You should use this when “yesterday” owns an object in the sentence. It’s common for a noun to come directly after “yesterday’s” when used in this form.

These examples should help you to understand how to use “Yesterday’s” in a sentence:

• I wasn’t at yesterday’s morning gathering because I didn’t get out of bed on time. Sorry!
• I’m not sure about yesterday’s information. I have a feeling we were given some false identification.
• What did you think about yesterday’s night entertainment? Would you have changed anything?
• That’s yesterday’s news, buddy. That’s nothing that we should concern ourselves with right now.
• I told you about yesterday’s issues, right? Well, things are getting a lot worse before they get any better.

To create the singular possessive form, you simply add an “‘s” to the end of the singular form. This allows you to show that “yesterday” owns a specific object in the sentence.

It’s also common to find “yesterday’s” in one other instance. It is a contraction of “yesterday is.” This is fairly common in spoken English, and it looks like this:

• Yesterday’s already passed. I’m sorry that you can’t go back and fix things.
• Yesterday’s a lifetime away already. You can’t change what happened.
• Yesterday’s all I can think about. I wish there was something I could change.

Yesterdays’

You will never find a grammatical context where “yesterdays'” is correct. Technically, it’s the plural possessive form, but it’s never correct to use because the plural form of “yesterday” does not require a possessive form.

It follows all the usual rules that you might expect with a plural possessive form. However, since “yesterday” is much more common as a singular noun, there is never a context where multiple “yesterdays” can own the same object in a sentence.

It would only make sense if you could attribute another object to “yesterdays.” If this was the case, you could show that “yesterdays” does own something.

Since “yesterdays'” is never correct, it’s best to remind yourself of that. These examples should help to keep things in line:

• Correct: I want to see yesterday’s afternoon address. I have a feeling that I’ll learn a lot from it.
• Incorrect: We told you not to go to yesterdays’ event without us. Now, you’ve made us look like idiots.
• Correct: We are unsure about yesterday’s briefing. Do you have any ideas that might help us figure it out?
• Incorrect: That’s yesterdays’ paper. Surely, you have something that runs us through what’s happening today.
• Correct: There will always be more yesterdays. You just have to find a way to get through your todays.
• Incorrect: It’s not all about the yesterdays’. Sometimes, it’s about things that you can’t see or hear.

Tip to Remember the Difference

Since only the singular possessive form is correct, it’s worth looking into a quick tip to help you out.

“Yesterday” is a singular noun because there is only ever one yesterday. It always refers to the day before today. Therefore, you can only add an “‘s” to the end of the singular form when you want to show that “yesterday” owns an object in the sentence.

Final Thoughts

“Yesterday” becomes “yesterday’s” when you want it written in the singular possessive form. This shows that “yesterday” owns an object. While you can use “yesterdays” as the plural form, you cannot use “yesterdays'” as the plural possessive form because it makes no sense.