This should be a simple word pair to master because both words follow hard-and-fast rules. Whenever a word is restricted by one rule, proper usage is simple.
Your is the possessive form of you, and as such it’s easy to identify in a sentence. It’s similar to other possessives such as my, his, hers, theirs, and so forth.
I'll list a few sample sentences below.
- Let's go to your house.
- Is that your car?
- May I borrow your keys?
Your denotes possession, so if you use it in a sentence, it means someone owns something. Your will always be followed by a noun (it may have an adjective or two jammed in there) as it is describing the thing you own.
As the sentences above show, it’s your house, your car, your keys.
You could have thrown in a few adjectives, though the basic meaning wouldn’t have changed. It’s your big house, your bright-red car, and your new car keys.
On to the Next Word
Now that you’ve seen how easy your is, you’ll be amazed that you’re is even easier.
You’re is so simple because it follows only one rule. It’s a contraction, and that means it consists of two words: you and are.
It’s like all other contractions in that the apostrophe joins the words together in a blended sound. The following are examples of other contractions and the words they represent.
- It's = it is.
- Can't - cannot.
- Won't = will not.
- Shouldn't = shall not.
- They're = they are.
As you can easily see, the apostrophe takes the place of omitted letters and joins the words together.
🐗 Whenever you want to use "you are" in a sentence, the word you're (you are) looking for is you're.
🐗 If you're speaking about owning something, the word you want is your.
A few example sentences to clo...