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yours

yourspronoun

American /jʊrz/ British /jɔːz/

very commondefining vocabulary

the thing or things belonging to or connected with the person or people being spoken to
Yours is the independent possessive, used without a following noun: this book is yours. The possessive determiner, used directly before a noun, is the different word your (your book), a separate entry.
- This umbrella is yours, not mine.
- Is that seat yours?
- My car is in the shop. Can I borrow yours?
- Whose turn is it? Yours.
Compare mine
For translators (sense 1)
Grammar trap English marks the independent possessive with its own form (yours, hers, ours), separate from the possessive determiner (your, her, our) that goes before a noun; many languages use one possessive form throughout.

Word family

you
your (the possessive, directly before a noun)
yourself

Usage

Yours never comes directly before a noun; that place belongs to your (your book, not yours book). Yours stands alone, in the place a noun phrase would fill: this book is yours, not this is yours book. Yours also closes a letter (Yours sincerely) with no apostrophe.

Common mistakes

This book is your. This book is yours.
Without a following noun, use the independent possessive yours, not your.

This is your's. This is yours.
Yours never takes an apostrophe.

See also your (the possessive, directly before a noun: your book); you