Yours or Your's or Yours'? (Correct Possessive Explained)

The possessive form of “you” isn’t as standard as you might hope. Unlike most nouns, pronouns have a much different interaction with a sentence when we’re providing an object alongside them. This article will explore the possessive forms.

Yours or Your’s or Yours’: Which Is The Correct Possessive Form?

“Yours” is the correct possessive form for “you.” We use it when the possessed object comes before the pronoun. We could use “your” as the possessive form, but only when the object comes after. “You” works as the possessive when saying “belongs to” between object and subject.

Check out these forms to help you:

Pronoun: You
Possessive form before object: Your
Possessive form after object: Yours
Possessive form with “belong to:” You

The key thing to watch for here is the position of the “you” possessive in the sentence. Typically, we use “yours” when the object comes first, though “your” works as well when the object comes directly after the pronoun.

“You” is the least common form, as “belongs to” is seen as redundant in a sentence.

Yours

“Yours” is the only correct possessive form of “you” when we write it after the object in a sentence. This is one of the most common ways to write a sentence with “you” in the possessive.

Yours works by changing the second-person pronoun “you” to the possessive form. We write it in this way when “you” own an object, and that object has come before “you” in the sentence.

It doesn’t follow standard possessive form rules when we use “yours” in this way. However, once you get used to how pronouns interact with the possessive form, you should have a much better understanding overall.

This item is yours, and you should take it away with you.
We have found that these pajamas are yours, sir.
This wallet is yours, and I noticed you dropped it after leaving.
Obviously, that headpiece is yours, but I won’t tell anyone about it.
This isn’t yours! I’m telling you, it’s mine!

As you can see, “yours” is the only correct way to write the second-person possessive pronoun. We use it when “you” own an object in a sentence, or we’re writing the object before saying it is “yours.”

Your

There are also cases where “your” is the appropriate possessive form to use. If you noticed in the previous section, “yours” is only correct when the object comes before the possessive.

When the object comes after the possessive, we can use “your” to show that “you” own the object. The object must come directly after “your” when written in this way.

There is no need to include an “S” in this case, and we can write it as follows:

This is your moment.
These are your belongings.
That is your ticket, master.
Where are your manners?
We have your child with us, sir.

“Your” works when the object comes after the pronoun.

You

“You” only works as the possessive form with a phrase like “belongs to” between the subject and the object. This is the least common way to write the possessive form as many people don’t like how “belongs to” looks in a sentence.

This jacket belongs to you.
This belongs to you.
That thing belongs to you, and I think you should take it back.
His dog actually belongs to you.
My child belongs to you just as much as me.

Your’s

“Your’s” is grammatically incorrect, and there is never a reason to add an apostrophe to the second-person pronoun “your.”

You should never use “your’s.” It’s not like most regular nouns, where you might add an “‘s” to its end. Instead, we only place an “S” at the end of a pronoun when showing ownership.

It will help if you remember the following examples before using them.

Correct: Which one of these is yours?
Incorrect: These aren’t your’s, are they?
Correct: We need to find your parents again!
Incorrect: I need to see your’s identification.
Correct: Isn’t that yours?
Incorrect: I’ll show you mine if you show me your’s.

Since we’re dealing with a pronoun with “your,” there is no reason to add an apostrophe. It’s a common grammatical error that English writers make, but it should be avoided. Only “yours” is the correct possessive form.

Yours’

You should already be familiar with what we’ll say here by this point in the article.

“Yours'” is incorrect. There is no grammatical instance where “yours'” works in a sentence. It would only work if “your” was a noun, and there was somehow a plural possessive form of it. However, “your” is a pronoun, the second-person singular form.

You must remember these examples when using the second-person pronoun possessive.

Correct: The suitcase is yours.
Incorrect: My heart is yours’.
Correct: Isn’t that your last ticket?
Incorrect: Where are yours’ manners?
Correct: I think this is yours, but I can’t be sure.
Incorrect: We haven’t got yours’ with us.

As you can see, only “yours” is correct. Yet again, there is no reason to add an apostrophe to the end of a pronoun. It simply isn’t correct, but it is a common language and grammar rule that some people make.

Quiz: Have You Mastered Yours or Your’s or Yours’?

While the rules for “yours” might differ from most standard nouns, this quiz should be a cakewalk. Once you understand the main points we’ve spoken about, you should have no trouble figuring out the answers to this one!

The briefcase is (A. yours / B. your’s / C. yours’), and you need to take it home.
That thing of (A. yours / B. your’s / C. yours’) needs training before you bring it back out here.
Which of these houses is (A. yours / B. your’s / C. yours’)?
Is this (A. your / B. yours / C. your’s) idea of a joke?
Where is (A. your / B. your’s / C. yours’) ice cream now?

Quiz answers

Final Thoughts

“Yours” is the only correct possessive form of “you.” We use it as the second person possessive form. Unlike most common nouns, there are never times where apostrophes are required with “yours.” You must only ever use it as “yours” after an object or “your” before an object.