 Secrets of apostrophe s from espressoenglish.net Did you know that apostrophe s is one of the most common words in the English language? It may seem simple, but there are a few secrets to using and pronouncing it perfectly. Apostrophe s can mean three things in English. It can be a possessive. For example, my car is blue, but Mary's car is green. It can be the short form of is. For example, my brother's a student. This means my brother is a student. It can also be the short form of has in the present perfect. For example, she's finished her work. This is the short form of she has finished her work. There are two ways to pronounce apostrophe s. It is pronounced like s in these words. It's, that's, what's. Apostrophe s is pronounced like z in these words. He's, she's, there's, here's. Where's, when's, why's, who's, how's. What's the rule? It is pronounced s when it follows an unvoiced sound. That's a sound where you hear only air, like p and f. It is pronounced z when it follows a voiced sound. Where you add sound with your voice, like r, d, m, n, most other consonants and all vowels. Listen to and repeat these practice sentences with apostrophe s. In these three sentences, remember, it's pronounced like s. It's almost midnight. That's not a good idea. What's the best way to learn English? In these sentences, the apostrophe s is pronounced like z. He's 18 years old. She's angry at me. There's a problem with my computer. Here's the book you asked for. Where's my calculator? When's your brother arriving? Why's the boss so upset? Who's that guy? How's work going? Fluency tip. Use apostrophe s as a connection. For native speakers, words that end in apostrophe s are often connected to the next word. For example, in this sentence, we don't normally pronounce all the words individually. For example, it's almost midnight. Instead, we use the apostrophe s to connect the first two words. It's almost midnight. Can you hear how the s is connected to almost? It's almost. Here's another example. This time with apostrophe s being pronounced as z. He's 18 years old. He's 18 years old. You can see that the s is like a connection in he's 18 and years old. If you want to improve your speaking and pronunciation, it's not too late to register for the American English Pronunciation Course. We are currently on lesson 4 of 30. To join the course, you can click the link under this video. Thanks for watching English Tips from Espresso English. If you liked this video, please share it.