theirs

theirs — pronoun

1. a pronoun that shows something belongs to a person or group you have already men

1.pronounA2
Definition

a pronoun that shows something belongs to a person or group you have already mentioned — used instead of saying 'their' followed by a noun, so you can say 'That bag is theirs' instead of 'That is their bag'.

Example

The blue car in the driveway is theirs.

possessive pronoun as subject complement — replaces 'their + noun'

Theirs was the only essay that received full marks from the teacher.

theirs as subject of a sentence

Common collocations
  • friend of theirs
  • neighbour of theirs
  • is theirs
  • was theirs
  • theirs + verb
Synonyms
  • belonging to them

    a phrasal alternative used in full sentences (e.g., 'that belongs to them') rather than as a compact pronoun

Grammar Patterns

theirs as subject

theirs as complement

theirs after of

Usage Note

Unlike the determiner 'their', the pronoun 'theirs' never stands before a noun. You cannot say 'theirs house' — instead say 'their house' or 'that house is theirs'. Many writers use 'theirs' (without an apostrophe) for a singular antecedent of unknown gender to avoid saying 'his or hers'.

Common Mistakes

Theirs house is on the corner.
Their house is on the corner.' or 'That house is theirs.
'theirs' replaces the noun, so it cannot be placed before one.
The book is their's.
The book is theirs.
Possessive pronouns (yours, hers, its, ours, theirs) never take an apostrophe.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: pronoun/1

The pronoun 'theirs' is the only possessive pronoun that replaces 'their + noun'. The closely related forms 'their' (determiner) and 'them' (object pronoun) serve different grammatical functions: 'their' always modifies a following noun ('their car'), while 'them' is the object form ('I saw them'). 'Theirs' collapses the determiner and noun into one compact word — a useful pattern for avoiding repetition. For example, instead of saying 'I like their garden, but I prefer their house', you can say 'I like their garden, but I prefer theirs'.

their ↗them ↗theirs ↗

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Theirs developed from the Old English genitive plural 'þāra' (meaning 'of them'). In Middle English it became 'theires', formed by adding the possessive -s suffix to 'their'. The final spelling 'theirs' was settled by the 17th century. Unlike nouns, which form possessives with an apostrophe (the cat's), possessive pronouns such as theirs, hers, and its have never used an apostrophe.