Is the word childrens or childrens

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Which is correct: childrens or children’s or childrens’?

The correct grammar is “children’s.” This is the possessive form of the word, meaning that something belongs to or is associated with a group of children.

The other two forms, children’s and childrens’, are incorrect.

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See our similar example: Women’s, Womens’ or Womens: Which is Correct?

Children Meaning

The word “children” is the plural form of the word “child.” It refers to more than one child.

Plural form of the noun “cat:”

One cat, two cats, three cats…

Plural form of the noun “children:”

One child, two children, three children…

When used in the singular form, “child,” it refers to a young human being below the age of 18 (according to United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child)

When used in the plural form, “children,” it refers to more than one young human being.

Possessive Form

The possessive form is used to show that something belongs to someone or something. In order to create the possessive form of a word, we add an apostrophe and the letter “s.”

For example, the possessive form of the word “cat” would be cat’s, as in, “the cat’s tail.” This shows that the tail belongs to the cat.

The possessive form of the word “children” would be children’s, as in, “the children’s coats.” This shows that something belongs to more than one child.

Examples of Possessive Nouns in Sentences:

  • This is the children’s playground. (The playground belongs to the children.)
  • These are the cats’ toys. (The toys belong to the cats.)
  • This is the child’s toy. (The toy belongs to the child.)

Children’s Meaning

The word children’s is the possessive form of the word “children.” It shows that something belongs to more than one child.

Examples:

  • This is the children’s playground. (The playground belongs to the children.)
  • These are the children’s toys. (The toys belong to the children.)
  • This is a children’s book. (The book belongs to the children.)
  • This is the children’s bedroom. (The bedroom belongs to the children.)

Childrens’ Meaning

The word childrens’ is the incorrect possessive form of the word “children.” It should be written as “children’s.”

The reason why we don’t write it as childrens’ is that the word “children” is a plural word that doesn’t end in s.

We add an apostrophe only when the word ends in s. For example, the word “rabbits” has an ‘s’ at the end of the plural noun. If we want to make this plural noun possessive, we just need to add an apostrophe at the end: “the rabbits’ home.”

“Children” is the plural for “child,” but it doesn’t have an ‘s.’ Therefore, we can just write children’s and not childrens.’

Childrens Meaning

The word childrens is the incorrect plural form of the word “children.” It should be written as “children.”

One child

Two children (not: childrens)

Three children (not: childrens)

When used in the plural form, “children” refers to more than one young human being.

Examples of Sentences with “Children’s”

Here are some example sentences using the word “children’s”:

  • This is the children’s pool.
  • These are the children’s toys.
  • This is the children’s bedroom.
  • The children’s parents are divorced.
  • I’m going to the store to buy some children’s clothes.
  • Do you have any children’s shoes in size 12?
  • I’m looking for a children’s book about dragons.

Examples of Sentences with “Children”

Here are some example sentences using the word “children”:

  • There are three children in the family.
  • The children are playing in the backyard.
  • I’m babysitting the children tonight.
  • Children under the age of 18 are not allowed in this nightclub.
  • All children must be accompanied by an adult.
  • Please be quiet; the children are sleeping.
  • The children went to the park to play.

Commonly asked Questions

Is child’s correct?

Yes, child’s is the correct possessive noun. We can say “a child’s teddy bear” to mean that the teddy bear belongs to the child.

What is the plural of childrens?

Children is the plural of “child.” We can’t say children’s.

In Conclusion

When deciding whether to use “childrens,” “children’s,” or “childrens’,” remember that the word “children” is a plural word that doesn’t end in s. This means that the correct possessive form is “children’s.”

The incorrect possessive forms are childrens’ and childrens. The incorrect plural form is childrens.

Useful Links

  • Whoever’s or Whoevers: Which is Correct?
  • Whats vs. What’s: Which is Correct?
  • Jones’, Jones’s, or Joneses’? Which is Correct?
  • Highschool or High School? One Word or Two Word Spelling?
  • No’s vs. Nos vs. Noes: Plural of Yes and No
  • Kindergarden or Kindergarten? How to Spell Correctly!

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I love learning new things about the English language and how to teach it better. I’m always trying to improve my knowledge, so I can better meet the needs of others!

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The rules for English grammar can seem completely random sometimes. Is it octopuses or octopi? Why isn’t rottweiler spelt as rottwieler if it’s “I before E except after C”? English is full of these types of questions; you probably have a few of them yourself. The correct way to form the possessive for the word “children” happens to be one of these questions. The good news is, if you know the reasons behind why English does something (there’s usually a reason!) then it isn’t so confusing anymore.

“Children’s” is the correct way to form the possessive for the word children. Regular English plurals add ‘S’ to the end of words. You only need to add an apostrophe to avoid a double ‘S’. i.e. dogs becomes dogs’ not dogs’s. Children is already plural, so you would not spell it as childrens’.

Unlike many other instances of different word forms in English, this one doesn’t have an interesting story behind it. The reason why is purely grammatical. In order to better understand why this is, let’s explore the plural forms of English words in depth.

Regular Plurals

All English speakers are familiar with the way to turn most words from one into many. The easiest and most widespread way to do this in English is to take the word and add an “-s” to the end of it.

  • kid becomes kids
  • pig becomes pigs
  • book becomes books
  • finger becomes fingers

And so on. The idea is similar for other ways to turn words plural in English. In other cases, you add “-es” to the end of a word when it ends with an X, CH, SH, SS, S, or Z.

  • fox becomes foxes
  • batch becomes batches
  • lash becomes lashes
  • process becomes processes
  • bus becomes buses
  • blitz becomes blitzes

Regular Plural Possessive Forms

The most common way to form the possessive in English is to attach an apostrophe with an S (-‘s) to the end of a word.

  • dog becomes dog’s
  • fox becomes fox’s
  • book become book’s
  • latch becomes latch’s

One thing you’ll notice about the regular plural form is that they all end in the letter “S”.

It would be strange (and unnecessary) to add another S to the end of a word that already has one, so these plural words form their possessive form by adding only an apostrophe.

  • dogs becomes dogs’
  • fox becomes foxes’
  • books becomes books’
  • latch becomes latches’

In this situation, the plural ending is added first. Afterwards, the possessive ending is added, but it must change to accommodate the S which already exists at the end of the word. The result is that only an apostrophe is added to the end of the word.

This is the way you should look at this formation.

When you build a word like dogs’, you are sticking the endings onto the word like Lego.

  • dog + -s + -‘s

However, if we wrote it as “dogs’s”, that would look very silly. Wouldn’t it? This is why the possessive marker loses its S when it attaches to a word that already has one. So, instead of dogs’s we get dogs’.

Irregular Plurals

Because English is English, not all words follow this simple pattern for creating their plural forms. Some words in English signal multiples in an irregular way.

  • man becomes men
  • goose becomes geese
  • person becomes people
  • tooth becomes teeth
  • mouse becomes mice
  • and, of course, child becomes children

These types of words form their plural by changing a vowel sound into a different one (man to men), changing the word (mouse to mice), or adding an ending (child to children).

Irregular Plural Possessive Forms

One thing you will notice about these words is that there is no S at the end of them.

The lack of an S means that the regular possessive ending “-‘s” can attach without any problems. We don’t have to change the form of this ending like we do when the word already ends with an S.

  • men becomes men’s
  • geese becomes geese’s
  • people becomes people’s
  • teeth becomes teeth’s
  • mice becomes mice’s
  • children becomes children’s

If we were to write it as childrens’, we know from the discussion above that we would be adding the plural marker onto the word “child” twice. It would look something like this:

  • child + -ren + -s + -‘s

After adding everything together, we would get childrens’, but this construction has two plural markers! You can’t turn a word plural twice, so it doesn’t make any sense to write the possessive form of children this way.

Conclusion

When trying to decide how to form the possessive for an English word, keep in mind if the word is plural or not. If it is, you know that you must add the entire possessive marker (‘s) to the end of the word.

However, if the word already ends in an S, then you know that you must drop the second S in the possessive marker.

Some people get confused about whether to use children’s or childrens’. Many people wonder where the apostrophe should go and if the letter “s” should come after children.

“Children’s” is the correct plural possessive form when something belongs to, is possessed, or is controlled by children collectively, as in “the children’s recreational center” since children is an irregular plural noun. In contrast, “the childrens’ recreational center” would never be correct as “children” is the plural of “child.”

I’ll cover the proper use of the plural possessive form.

Why Is Children’s Correct and Childrens’ Not Correct? 

There are three uses of an apostrophe, and they include indicating the omission of letters (contractions), to form possessive nouns, and to show the plural of symbols, numbers, and letters.

An example of words where an apostrophe works as a contraction is “she’s,” “it’s,” and “let’s.”

However, many assume that a contraction apostrophe is not acceptable in formal writing but acceptable in informal writing, especially when indicating a year.

Also, pluralizing can come with some degree of confusion. There are some words that you can simply pluralize by adding the letter “s.”

However, there are some irregular nouns with plurals that do not end with -s. An example of this is “children.” Also, some already have -s ending.

Some common rules guide the use of apostrophes in the majority of words and also indicate possession. 

One of the rules is to add -‘s if the noun is singular and has an -s ending. Another rule is to add only an apostrophe to a plural noun with an -s ending — for example, bananas’ and clowns’.

If you have a plural noun that does not end with -s, add -‘s to the ending — a perfect example is “children.”

Children’s is correct and childrens’ is wrong because “children” is plural and an irregular noun that requires the addition of -‘s to make it possessive.

Where Do -en Plurals Come From?

You will probably agree with me that the plural word for child is children. Generally, people believe that plurals often end with the letter “s,” but have you thought about plural words such as brethren, women, men, oxen, and children that end with -en?

Where do you think the -en comes from? In Old English (pre-1100 AD), the plurals of some nouns that followed specific patterns ended with -n (source).

However, plurals that come with -an and -en in Old English were spelled using -en during the Middle English period (AD 1100–1500).

During this period, writers applied the -en to plural words that do not come with -n originally.

The use of -en at the end of irregular plurals was prevalent in Middle English, and that was when childer, which was the plural of “child,” became “children.”

Looking at it, you might say that the -en at the end of “children” forms a sort of double plural because the -en was added to a word that was already plural. 

At one time, there was a high competition between the use of -s and -n as the primary ending for plurals in English.

During this time, the north of England favored the -s ending, and the south favored the -n ending.

As time went on, the -s ending became dominant, and the -n ending faded away eventually.

Even though -s plurals are universal, there are some surviving -n and -en plurals, and a perfect example is children.

Dreyer’s English style guide is a great tool to help you understand the English language’s nuances. You can easily find it on Amazon.

A Quick Lesson on Pluralizing Words

For you to have a better knowledge of why you shouldn’t add -s to the ending of “children,” let’s take a quick look at the simple rules that can help you form the plural of any noun in English.

When and Where You Should Add -s to Pluralize

Most regular nouns should have -s at their ending. Examples of these are “apples” and “cars.”

Nouns with -ph and -th Endings: Examples include “photographs” and “mouths.”

Nouns with -o ending: Examples include “pianos” and “photos.” However, there is an exception to this rule. Some terms having -o at the ending should end in -es, and this includes “heroes,” “tomatoes,” “potatoes,” and “cargoes.”

According to the general rule, -s should be added after nouns having -fe or -f at the end.

Examples of this include “giraffes” and “roofs.” Some noun endings with -fe or -f have an exception to this rule.

Instead of adding -s, remove -f or -fe, and replace them with -ves, as in “knives” and “leaves” to pluralize “knife” and “leaf,” respectively.

Add -s to a noun with -on at the ending. For example, “salons” and “canyons.” However, there is an exception for certain nouns where you will have to replace -on with -a to form plurals.

Examples are “phenomenon” and “criterion” to form “phenomena” and “criteria,” respectively.

When You Should Add -es to Pluralize

You should add –es to the ending of nouns having -ch, -sh, -z, -s, and -x at the end.

Examples of these are “watches,” “wishes,” “buzzes,” “buses,” and “boxes.”

If you come across a noun ending with -is, replace the -is with -es. These include noun words like oasis and analysis, having their pluralized words as “oases” and “analyses.”

When You Should Pluralize By Adding -ies to the Noun Ending

If you see a noun ending with -y, the general rule is to replace the -y with -ies. For example, the plural of “candy” is “candies,” and that of a “dummy” is “dummies.” This rule also comes with an exception — you sometimes need to add -s to some nouns ending with the letter -y.

How do you know there is going to be an exception? If the letter before -y is a vowel, add -s. Examples of such words are “monkeys,” “guys,” “ways,” and “toys.”

When You Should Add -i to Pluralize a Noun

If you have -us at the ending of a noun, the general rule is to remove -us and insert -i. Examples of these are a stimulus to stimuli, cactus to cacti, and fungus to fungi.

When You Don’t Need to Add Any Letter to Pluralize

Nouns that do not have plural forms: These include “news,” “money,” “love,” “livestock,” and “bravery.”

Nouns that do not come with singular forms: These are often clothing vocabulary, and they work in pairs such as “jeans,” “trousers,” “shorts,” and “scissors.”

When you have nouns that have the same singular and plural forms: Examples of words like these are “species,” “fish,” and “deer.” Words that fit into this rule mostly have to do with animals or biology.

Remember the Irregular Nouns or Forms

There are always some cases where the rules of plural spelling discussed above are not followed. Irregular nouns don’t follow any rules or fix into any format. Some examples of this are:

  • Woman to women and not womans
  • Child to children and not childs or childrens
  • Mouse to mice and not mouses

Final Thoughts

From the discussion so far, you probably now know where the -en plural comes from and the rules guiding the pluralizing of words. The rules of pluralizing show that you can’t add -s to the ending of most irregular nouns, and this includes “children.”

Considering and following this rule means childrens and childrens’ are wrong words and can’t be used in English.

As for “children’s,” it is a correct word in English that indicates possession by the children.

You can’t use -‘s to indicate plural. The possessive of one child is “child’s,” and the possessive of more than one child is “children’s.”

“Children” is a plural form. You can use it to refer to many children, but you might not know how to refer to those children owning an object.

Fear not. This article will run you through the correct possessive form of “children” when used to show ownership.

The correct possessive form of “children” is “children’s.” Since “children” is the plural form of “child,” “children’s” is the plural possessive form of the same noun. You should it when many children own a similar object (i.e. “the children’s books”).

Childrens possessive

These are the main forms you can use with “child” and “children:”

Singular  Child
Plural  Children
Singular possessive  Child’s
Plural possessive  Children’s

If you want to learn the correct possessive form of “Child”, take a look at this article: Childs or Childs’ or Child’s? (Helpful Examples)

You should only use “children’s” as the possessive form. This comes from the plural form of “children.” Grammar rules teach us to add an apostrophe and an “s” to the end of the word to turn it into a possessive form.

Typical English rules mean that plural forms add an “s” to a singular noun. Technically, this would mean that “child” becomes “childs.” However, these rules don’t apply to “child” as it is an irregular noun.

Instead, you should add an “-ren” to the end of “child.” This is standard practice, showing that many children are present.

You should check whether Childs or Childs’ or Child’s is correct from our other article, as it will help you understand the singular possessive form.

Children’s

The only correct term in this article is “children’s.” This is the plural possessive form of “child,” showing that many children own a group of objects. You should place the owned group directly after “children’s” when showing ownership.

  • The children’s day out was a big success. They really enjoyed all of the fun activities they got to take part in.
  • The children’s book section needs revamping. We were hoping you could help us with that.

In some instances, you might find the object coming before “children’s:”

  • This book is the children’s.

Whether the object comes before or after “children’s,” the possession is clear. It shows that many children own the same object (or a group of similar objects).

Childrens

There is no situation where “childrens” makes sense in your writing. “Childrens” is an incorrect interpretation of the plural form.

Remember, “children” is already plural for “child.” You cannot add an “s” to the plural noun, as it would imply that there are multiple groups of multiple groups of children. Do you see how strange it would be if that occurred in your writing?

The simple rule to follow is “child” for the singular form (i.e. “one child”) and “children” for the plural form (i.e. “two children”).

Childrens’

“Childrens’” is an extension of “childrens.” It is still grammatically incorrect because “childrens” is not correct.

Technically, “childrens’” follows standard plural possessive rules. However, these rules only apply to regular nouns that are in the singular form.

“Children” is already plural, so adding an s followed by an apostrophe would cause nothing but problems. It makes no sense to write it like this in any situation.

Conclusion

You should not use “childrens” or “childrens’” in any situation. Neither form is correct, as they are both misinterpretations of the plural form.

Only “children’s” works as the plural possessive form. It shows multiple children owning the same object or group of objects.

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Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here.

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Children is the plural for Child. Child’s is the singular possessive form of Child. Children’s is the plural possessive form of children. 

We use children when we want to make the word “child” plural.

So it is:

I have one Child.

I have two children. 

Child’s 

Child’s is the singular possessive form of child. We use the possessive form of child when we want to show that one child owns something.

This is my child’s friend.

I need to look after my child’s cat.

Remember we are talking about only one child. You can replace “child’s” with a name if that makes it easier to understand.

This is Jane’s friend.

We need to look after Jane’s cat.

Children’s 

Children’s is the plural possessive form of children. Because the noun doesn’t end in “s” and we want to make the word possessive, we need to put the apostrophe before the “s”.

This is our children’s house.

In this case, many(more than one) of our children live in the house and they own the house together.

Childrens’ 

Childrens’ is incorrect and should not be used in English. We don’t put the apostrophe after the “s” because “children” is an irregular plural and does not end in “s”. 

Childs’

“Childs’” is incorrect because the plural of “child” is “children”. 

Children’s or Childrens’ Menu/Meal

“Children’s Menu” is correct because you are usually aiming your menu at more than one kid so therefore you should use the plural possessive.

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Conor is the main writer here at One Minute English and was an English teacher for 10 years. He is interested in helping people with their English skills and learning about using A.I tools at work.



The plural of CHILD + The difference between Child, Child’s, Children, Children’s

A child is a young person. A child is not an adult yet.
An adult is a person who is 18 years old or more.

Today we are going to look at the word CHILD.

Child is a singular noun. There is only ONE of something. ONE child.
An example sentence:

  • The child is playing.

Child is singular. Child refers to ONE… one child is playing

What is the plural form of child?

The plural of child is children.
Children is a plural noun. There can be two children, three children, four children, or many children.
Children refers to MORE THAN ONE.
An example sentence:

  • The children are playing.

NOTE: There is no S at the end of the word child. We do NOT say “childs”.
Also, there is no S at the end of the word children. We do NOT say “childrens”.
The word Children (without an S at the end) is an irregular plural noun so we don’t put an S at the end.

BUT sometimes there is an apostrophe S after child and children…

Child’s – Children’s

When there is an apostrophe S after a noun, they are known as possessive nouns.

Child’s is a possessive noun.
Children’s is a possessive noun.

The apostrophe S is used to show possession or that someone has something.
For example:

Child’s means one child has something. (That something comes next in the sentence.)
Children’s means two or more children have something.
Let’s see some examples:

  • The child’s toys are on the floor.

Since child is singular, child’s toys means “the toys of the child.” … one child has toys.

  • The children’s toys are on the floor.

Since children is plural, children’s toys means “the toys of the children.” … two (or more) children have toys.

What does kid mean?

There is another word used instead of child… KID.
Note: Kid is informal.

Kid is a singular noun so it refers to ONE child.
You can say:

  • The child is playing … or …
  • The kid is playing.

The last sentence is more informal.

So, if child and kid are singular nouns, what is the plural form of these words?
The plural of child is children.
The plural of kid is kids.

Kid is a regular noun so we just put an S at the end to make it plural.
One kid, Two kids. Yes, kids (in plural form) is also informal.
Let’s see our example sentences.

  • The children are playing. … or …
  • The kids are playing.

Summary Chart

The plural of CHILD + The difference between Child, Child's, Children and Children's

See more about when and how to use the Apostrophe S in this lesson:
Apostrophe S – Possessive Nouns

Lesson tags: Apostrophe, Irregular, Plural, Possessive Nouns
Back to: English Course > Comparing People and Things

Table of Contents

  1. What type of noun is child?
  2. What is the meaning of kids?
  3. What is the singular form of children’s?
  4. Can we use it for animals?
  5. What type of word is it in English grammar?
  6. What is raw material of language?
  7. What is an example of language?
  8. What are the two types of language?
  9. What are the types of language?
  10. What are examples of language functions?
  11. What is form and function in language?
  12. What are Halliday’s functions of language?

“Children’s” means belonging or relating to children. For example ‘children’s clothes’ or ‘children’s literature. ‘ The form “childrens’ ” does not exist. The word ‘children’ is already plural, so you cannot add an ‘s’ to it.

What type of noun is child?

The nursery has places for 30 children. The film is not suitable for young children. He can’t understand – he’s just a child. All of our children are grown and married….child ​Definitions and Synonyms ​‌‌‌

singular child
plural children

What is the meaning of kids?

1 : a young person kids in high school especially : child a married couple with two kids —often used as a generalized reference to one especially younger or less experienced the kid on the pro golf tour you poor kid. 2a : a young goat. b : a young individual of various animals related to the goat.

What is the singular form of children’s?

Step 3: Singular and Plural

Singular Noun Regular Plural (add s) Irregular Plural
Child Children
Tooth Teeth
Eggs Eggs
Baby Babies

Can we use it for animals?

A: It’s not often we get grammar questions about animals—it’s even less often that we get one with two different answers. An animal is referred as “it” unless the relationship is personal (like a pet that has a name). Then it’s OK to use “he” or “she” when referring to the animal.

What type of word is it in English grammar?

We commonly use the pronoun it as both a subject and an object pronoun: Don’t drink the milk.

What is raw material of language?

Language occupies a central role in the production processes of informational capitalism: in call centres, language functions as the raw material, scripts as tools and conversations as a product. Yet the ways in which linguistic production affects key elements of job categories have received little attention.

What is an example of language?

The definition of language is speech or other forms of communication. An example of language is words spoken. An example of language is words read in a book. (countable) A form of communication using words either spoken or gestured with the hands and structured with grammar, often with a writing system.

What are the two types of language?

There are two kinds of classification of languages practiced in linguistics: genetic (or genealogical) and typological. The purpose of genetic classification is to group languages into families according to their degree of diachronic relatedness.

What are the types of language?

12 Types of Language

  • Argot. An argot is a language primarily developed to disguise conversation, originally because of a criminal enterprise, though the term is also used loosely to refer to informal jargon.
  • Cant.
  • Colloquial Language.
  • Creole.
  • Dialect.
  • Jargon.
  • Lingo.
  • Lingua Franca.

What are examples of language functions?

Language functions

  • Agreeing and disagreeing.
  • Apologizing.
  • Asking for assistance or directions.
  • Asking for permission.
  • Classifying.
  • Commanding/Giving instructions.
  • Comparing.
  • Criticizing.

What is form and function in language?

Language forms deal with the internal grammatical structure of words and phrases as well as the word themselves. While functions address what we do with language, forms are the language structures and vocabulary that are used to support those functions.

What are Halliday’s functions of language?

Instrumental function – language that is used to fulfil a need, such as to obtain food, drink or comfort. This typically includes concrete nouns. Regulatory function – language that is used to influence the behaviour of others including persuading, commanding or requesting.

Correct spelling

children’s

Correct spelling, explanation: children’s is a possessive word, built by adding a possessive ‘s (an s suggesting that someone owns something, not s meaning is or plural s) to a base word – children, which is a plural form of child. It is important to remember the apostrophe when adding the s to possessive words because without it the word loses its meaning and is unclear to the reader.

Definition of children’s:
possessive word
1. something possessed by many kids, something of kids
Sweets, pancakes, and pizza are often children’s favorite food.
I promised to take my daughter to Disneyland to celebrate Children’s Day.


Incorrect spelling

childrens

Incorrect spelling, explanation: childrens is an incorrect word because of several reasons. First of all, without an apostrophe, the word looks like a plural form of children, which is already an irregular plural form, and adding the s is a grammatical error. On the other hand, if the s was supposed to be a possessive ‘s, there is no apostrophe, which makes the word’s meaning unclear, unlike children’s, which is the correct form with a distinctive meaning.

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Written by: Julia Ryczyńska
Master in English Philology with a specialization in translation at the University of Silesia. Translator, writer, and proofreader. A fan of the Japanese language, literature, and tofu in all forms available.


Last updated: August 29, 2022
Published on: October 21, 2016


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Noun plus ’s equals Possessive Noun

We use the Possessive Case showing that something belongs to someone. However, the question of where to put ’s sometimes can be baffling because of all these rules and exceptions. For instance, where do we need to put the apostrophe and an “s” in the word “children”? Is it children’s or childrens’ ?

First of all, let’s learn how to form these nouns:

A possessive noun in the singular: add ’s to the end of the word.

Example

Ukraine’s climate is perfect for me.

In case a singular noun ends with “s,” you still need to add the apostrophe and one more “s.”

Example

I forgot James’s key at home.

A possessive noun in the plural: add the apostrophe to the end of the word (do not put one more s).

Example

It is the teachers’ room.

A Possessive Case with irregular plural nouns: add s to the end of the word.

Example

I don’t understand women’s logic.

Children’s vs. childrens’. Where is the right choice?

When you hear somebody says [‘ʧildrənz], do you expect him/her to mean childrens or children’s? The word “children” belongs to irregular plural nouns, which form the plurality in another way (not by adding —s to the end of the word). In this case, to compose the possessive, you need just to add ’s.

Example of using children’s

The Help (2011)
Gone Girl (2014)
V for Vendetta (2005)

  • #1

Hello everyone.

This is not a translating question, but instead one that deals with the English rules of grammar.

Am attempting to correctly write the following:

XXXX Childrens’ Dentistry
XXXX Children’s Dentistry
XXXX Childrens Dentistry

Which of the above would be the correct usage/

Thank you for your suggestions.

    • #2

    XXXX Children’s Dentistry is the only correct one.

    Children is already plural, so you need an apostrophe before the s, meaning «of children» or «for children».

    Same rule for men (men’s health) and women (women’s clothing).

    • #3

    XXXX Childrens’ Dentistry
    XXXX Children’s Dentistry :tick:
    XXXX Childrens Dentistry

    CHILDREN es el plural de CHILD, por lo tanto no se le agrega la s, salvo en este caso que es el posesivo.

    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 22, 2016

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