Family’s or Families’?

Family’s is a singular possessive form. For example, “We enjoyed a delicious dinner at the family’s house.” On the other hand, Families’ is a plural possessive form. Use it when you are talking about something that belongs to more than one family, for instance, “We appreciate all the families’ contributions to the community event.”

On the other hand, the standard plural form is families without an apostrophe. Let’s take a look at this chart that gives a helpful overview of each of the forms for the noun family.

form	example
Singular	Family
Plural	Families
Single Possessive	Family’s
Plural possessive	Families’

Let’s look at the examples in each context of the above

• Singular:
  • A loving family makes a house a home.
• Plural:
  • Many families gathered for the community event.
• Single Possessive:
  • The family’s traditions include a special meal on holidays.
• Plural Possessive:
  • The families’ reunions are filled with laughter and joy.

These are the 4 forms of the noun family.  If you need to go through more examples to give you a  better understanding of each form then see the reset of this lesson.

Family

You use Family when you are simply talking about or referring to  a single family. Let’s look at the following examples;

1. My family loves to go on picnics together. (No apostrophe is needed here; family is used in its basic form.)
2. The Smith family lives in a cozy house. A family provides support and love to its members. (No apostrophe is needed; family is used as a simple noun.)
3. Every family has its own unique traditions. The Johnson family enjoys spending time outdoors.

Families

Families is the standard plural form for family. You use Families when you are talking about multiple families. There is no apostrophe in any  of the words and the following are some examples of how you can use it in a sentence.

1. Many families attended the community event. (No apostrophe is needed; families is used in its plural form.)
2. Several families live in the neighborhood. 
3. Families from all over the town gathered for the festival. 
4. The park was filled with families having a good time. 
5. During the holidays, families come together to celebrate. 

Family’s

Use family’s when you are talking about something that belongs to a single family, whether tangible or intangible. It is a singular possessive form for the noun family. As you can see, you need to add the apostrophe and the ‘s’ at the end of the word.

Here are some  examples;

1. The family’s dog is playful and friendly. (The apostrophe and the “‘s’ means that the dog belongs to a single family.)
2. I admire the family’s beautiful garden. 
3. A family’s love is unconditional. 
4. The Johnson family’s house is decorated for the holidays. 
5. My friend joined the Smith family’s vacation.

Families’

Use Families’ when you are talking or referring to something that belongs to multiples families. You are going to add an apostrophe at the end of the plural families to show that something belongs to more than on family

1. The park was filled with laughter as families’ children played together.
2. During the holiday season, families’ houses are adorned with colorful lights.
3. The community event celebrated families’ traditions and diverse cultures.
5. At the picnic, families’ members enjoyed delicious food and shared stories.