Is it families or family’s? If you think English is a pretty easy language, then think again. It can turn rather complex if you aren’t well versed in word order, tense, punctuations, determiners, and connectors. Some pretty similar words have completely different meanings and usage in this language. If you mistakenly use one word instead of another, the whole statement can lose its crux, and people decoding it will get a completely different message. Thus, the purpose of complete communication will fail. Are you still sure you know the usage and difference between family’s vs. families? When to use families or family’s? Let’s start the article and read family’s vs. families use in a sentence and their meanings.
1. What is the Difference Between Family and Families?
The word family is often confused with the word families. But family is a singular form, and families is a plural form. A family is a social group comprising you, your siblings, and your parents. This group of people has the same ancestry. The meaning of families denotes the groups of two or more households. (See Why some people don’t like family gatherings?)
2. Family vs. Families: Usage in Sentence
Family and families are a set of words that often confuse people while using them. These words aren’t that complicated, though. Let’s clearly understand the difference between these two words through their usage in sentences.
- Their family of Miranda is a large one. (See Slug Vs Snail)
- He comes from a very wealthy family.
- Both Rian and Jerry are from royal families.
- We have a lot of fun while traveling with our families. Also, check out what does 10-4 mean?
3. Which is Correct: Entire Family or Entire Families?
You use entire when you want to emphasize the whole of something. Both entire family and entire families form the correct statements. When you use whole with plural words like families, the word whole means entire or complete. Let’s look at some examples of statements where entire was used with family or families.
- The entire family was murdered.
- In the 19th century, entire families lived inside a single room. (See Which is Correct – Requester or Requestor?)
4. What is the Difference Between Families and Family’s?
People are often confused about family’s vs. families and when to use families or family’s in a statement. The word families is the plural form of family. When you add an apostrophe S to the family, it becomes family’s. This word is a singular form and a possessive noun. It is used to show possession of the family over things. For example:
- This is my family’s farmhouse.
- He tarnished my family’s reputation.
In these examples, the possessive noun family’s denotes that the things mentioned above belong to the family. Thus, you must have understood that the matter of families vs family’s is a simple case of pluralization vs possession. (See What’s the Difference between a Cafe and a Restaurant?)
5. What are the Plural and Possessive Forms of Family?
Family is a singular word, and it can be transformed into plural and possessive forms. According to basic rules of English, when you want to convert a singular word ending with y into a plural word, you replace the y at the end of the word with ies. So, the plural form of the family will be families.
On the other hand, the possessive form of family is formed when you add an apostrophe S to family. So, the possessive form of family is family’s. It is used to denote the ownership of the family over something. (See What is the plural of leaf? Is it leafs or leaves?)
6. Families or Family’s or Families’: Which to Use When?
- Family is a singular word used to denote a group of people belonging to common ancestry.
- On the other hand, families is the plural form of family, used to denote more than one family or household.
- Family’s is the possessive form of family, used to denote the ownership or possession of the family over something.
Through these examples, you can better understand when to use families or family’s.
- We are going on a family holiday.
- Many families prefer this residential area.
- Your family’s vacation house is amazing. Must read what are the words that are both Nouns and Verbs?
7. Which is Correct: Sorry for Your Family’s or Families’ Loss?
As you are aware of families or family’s differences, you must know that when you add the apostrophe S to any word, it converts to a possessive noun. Both family’s and families’ are possessive nouns. They are used to denote the possession of families or family over something. You use family’s when talking about one family, whereas families’ are used when you are talking about the possession of more than one family.
Since your is a word used as both a singular and plural form, you can use it with both family’s or families’. So, both the statements are correct: sorry for your family’s loss and sorry for your families’ loss. (See Which is Correct – How Old She is or How Old is She?)
8. Which is Correct: Me and My Family or My Family and I?
You can use both me and my family or my family and I, depending on whether you and your family are subject or object in the statements concerned. You can understand these better from these examples:
- This will surely help me and my family. Here, me and my family are objects.
- My family and I are fully vaccinated. Here, my family and I are subjects. (Also read How do you say Sea in French?)
