What’s the difference between your and you’re?

Your and you’re are homophones that are often confused by learners and native speakers of English alike. Here is a short guide to help understand the difference between them.

your

Your is a possessive determiner. You use your to show that something belongs or relates to the person or people that you are speaking to.

I know your sister.

Can I borrow your pen?

Where are your parents?

you’re

You’re is a contraction, meaning that it is a shortened form of ‘you are’. The apostrophe replaces the missing letter ‘a’ when the two words are combined.

You’re quite right.

You’re not an expert.

Do you know if you’re coming tomorrow?

For further information on English Usage, visit: https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/english-usage  

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All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.

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