The pattern
Use an apostrophe before -s when a word or name ends in one vowel letter (a, i, o, u, or y after a consonant), and before the plural ending of abbreviations you say letter by letter. After vowel combinations and after é, add a plain -s: cadeaus, cafés.
- Plurals: auto's, foto's, menu's, taxi's, baby's
- After vowel combinations or é, no apostrophe: cadeaus, essays, cowboys, cafés
- Abbreviations said letter by letter: cd's, tv's, wc's
- Names ending in one of these vowels: Anna's fiets, Yara's jas
- Most other names get only -s: Peters fiets, Daans jas, Sannes tas
- Names ending in an s sound get only an apostrophe: Joris' fiets
- Fixed time words: 's morgens, 's middags, 's avonds, 's nachts
Examples
| Ik heb twee foto's van de kat gemaakt. | I took two photos of the cat. |
| Er staan veel auto's voor het huis. | There are a lot of cars in front of the house. |
| Het café heeft nieuwe menu's. | The café has new menus. |
| Bij het station wachten drie taxi's. | Three taxis are waiting at the station. |
| De buren hebben net twee baby's gekregen. | The neighbours have just had two babies. |
| Lotte krijgt veel cadeaus voor haar verjaardag. | Lotte gets lots of presents for her birthday. |
| Ik heb mijn oude cd's verkocht. | I sold my old CDs. |
| Fatima's moeder werkt bij de gemeente. | Fatima's mother works for the council. |
| Daans moeder werkt bij de huisarts. | Daan's mother works at the GP's practice. |
| 's Morgens neemt Bas de trein naar Utrecht. | In the morning Bas takes the train to Utrecht. |
Why it works this way
Dutch spelling thinks in syllables. In au-to, the o ends its syllable, so it sounds long, as in zo. Write autos and a reader splits it into au-tos: now the s closes the syllable, and a single vowel in a closed syllable is normally short, as in bos. The apostrophe says: the word ends here, the s is just an add-on. See open and closed syllables for the full logic.
With two vowel letters there is nothing to protect. Nobody misreads the eau in cadeau or the ay in essay, so you write cadeaus and essays. That is also why baby's gets an apostrophe (consonant before the y) but cowboys does not. An accent does the same job: the é in café already shows how to say it, so the plural is cafés.
Names follow the same idea. Annas would look like it ends in a short a, so you write Anna's. Peter and Daan end in a consonant, so there is nothing to protect: Peters fiets, Daans jas. A final unstressed e is the neutral sound, not a long vowel, so Sanne becomes Sannes, just like tante becomes tantes. Names ending in an s sound, like Joris or Carlos, take only the apostrophe: Joris' fiets, Carlos' tas. More ways to show ownership are in possession.
Abbreviations that you say letter by letter get an apostrophe before the plural ending, so you can see where the abbreviation stops: tv's, cd's, pc's. An abbreviation that you say as an ordinary word and write entirely in small letters follows the normal plural spelling rules: vips, but havo's, because havo ends in a single o. If it is written with a capital letter, it gets an apostrophe before the plural ending: vips, but VIP's.
The time words are fossils. The 's is short for the old word des ("of the"), so 's avonds once meant "of the evening". Today it simply means "in the evening" or "in the evenings". Learn 's morgens, 's middags, 's avonds and 's nachts as fixed words. At the start of a sentence, the capital goes on the next word (see capital letters).
You will also meet apostrophes in informal short forms like m'n and 't. Those are a different story, told in spoken shortcuts.
Remember: the apostrophe is a doorstop. It holds the syllable open so the last vowel can stay long.
Watch out
Nottwee autos
Saytwee auto's
without the apostrophe the o reads as short
NotPeter's fiets
SayPeters fiets
Peter ends in a consonant, so just add -s
NotSanne's verjaardag
SaySannes verjaardag
an unstressed e at the end needs no apostrophe
Nottwee café's
Saytwee cafés
the accent already shows how to say the é, so add a plain -s
Not'S avonds fiets ik naar huis.
Say's Avonds fiets ik naar huis.
the capital goes on the word after 's
Quick check
- Fill in the plural of mango: Ik koop drie ... op de markt.
- Choose: Dit is (Daan's / Daans) laptop.
- Fix the sentence: Ik sport savonds.
- Fix the sentence: We hebben thuis twee tvs.
Show the answers
- mango's (mango ends in a single o, so the apostrophe keeps it long)
- Daans (a name ending in a consonant takes only -s)
- Ik sport 's avonds. (a fixed time word with 's)
- We hebben thuis twee tv's. (you say tv letter by letter, so it gets 's)
Use it today
Next time you are in the supermarket, find three plurals with an apostrophe on signs or price tags, like kiwi's, avocado's or pizza's. Then write one sentence about your day with 's morgens or 's avonds.