The term mother’s is the singular possessive form of mother. E.g., “Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there.” Furthermore, the term mothers’ is the plural possessive. E.g., “The mothers’ room is located at the end of the hallway.” Also, mothers is the standard plural form of mother.
The following chart shows the different forms of the term mother that you can use in your writing.
| Singular | Mother |
| Plural | Mothers |
| Singular possessive | Mother’s |
| Plural possessive | Mothers’ |
As you can see, the word mother has a regular plural that you form by adding the letter “s.”
Here are some sentences that show the different forms of the word mother.
- Singular: She is a very good mother to her two children.
- Plural: The mothers from the parents’ committee are meeting for coffee on Friday.
- Singular possessive: Her mother’s partner works overseas most of the time.
- Plural possessive: The mothers’ meeting will be on Friday at midday.
You can form the singular possessive of mother by adding the apostrophe between the “r” and “s.” Meanwhile, the plural possessive only requires an apostrophe at the end of mothers.
Perhaps you are still unsure how to use the possessive forms of the word mother. If so, you should keep reading the rest of the page, where we explain the different forms of the term mother in more detail.
Mother’s
The term mother’s is the singular possessive form of mother. Therefore, you can use it to indicate that something belongs to one mother.
Furthermore, the things that belong to mothers can be physical objects, as shown in this example:
- Your mother’s house is on the same street as mine.
Or they can be other things such as characteristics or events:
- The celebration of Mother’s Day always falls on a Sunday in my country.
- A mother’s love is unlike any other.
You will notice that in some examples, you need a capital letter for mother; in others, you do not. For instance, if the word mother replaces the real name and there is no pronoun, you need a capital letter.
- We need to leave now because Mother’s appointment is at 1 pm.
- My mother’s mother is my grandmother.
Mothers’
The term mothers’ is the plural possessive form of the word mother. Consequently, you use it when you want to discuss several mothers owning or possessing something.
You often use mothers’ to refer to meetings or gatherings of mothers who know each other through their children.
- The mothers’ feedback session will be on the last day of the semester.
Mothers
The term mothers is the standard plural version of mother. That means you can use it when you want to talk about several mothers simultaneously, as long as they do not possess something.
- The boys’ mothers were furious at what they had done.
- She has two mothers: her birth mother and her adoptive mother.