The singular possessive form of dad is dad’s. E.g., “That is my dad’s car.” Furthermore, the plural possessive version is dads’. E.g., “Dads’ cars are often their biggest source of pride.” Also, the plural version of dad is dads. E.g., “Dads around the world are celebrating Father’s Day.”
You need to put an apostrophe with dad when you are indicating possession or ownership of something. For the plural version, you just need to add an “s” to the end of dad.
Here’s an overview of the four different forms:
| Singular | Dad |
| Plural | Dads |
| Singular possessive | Dad’s |
| Plural possessive | Dads’ |
Here are examples of the four different forms so you can see the difference in context:
- Singular: My dad is a kind and generous person.
- Plural: All of the children’s dads were watching the game enthusiastically.
- Singular possessive: Nobody else except him can sit in dad’s chair.
- Plural possessive: It is dads’ night at the local school, and all students’ fathers are invited.
Please keep reading the rest of the article to learn more about how to use the different possessive and plural forms of dad.
Dad’s
The term dad’s with the apostrophe between the “d” and “s” is the singular possessive form of dad.
Therefore, you use dad’s to indicate that something belongs to one dad, not multiple dads.
Here are some examples of how to use the word dad’s:
- It is my dad’s birthday on Sunday. He will be 60.
- My dad’s brother, i.e., my uncle, has just moved to California.
- I borrowed my dad’s car for the weekend and need to refuel it before returning.
- That old photo album on the shelf contains memories from my dad’s college days.
- My dad’s favorite meal has always been homemade lasagna; we make it for him every Father’s Day.
- It’s amazing how much I’ve inherited from my dad’s side of the family, especially our love for music.
- Every summer, we spend a week at my dad’s cabin in the mountains to unwind and reconnect with nature.
Furthermore, when writing the possessive form of dad, you should ensure that dad is a noun, not an adjective.
As shown in these examples:
- Dad jokes are well-known for being a little cringe-worthy. (Adjective)
- My dad’s jokes are not funny to anyone except him. (Noun)
Now, let’s see how to use dads’ correctly.
Dads’
The term dads’ is the plural possessive form of the word dad.
Therefore, you can use it to refer to something owned or possessed by a plural quantity of dads.
Here are some examples:
- Those are the dads’ coats on the table.
- The dads’ praise at the end of the game pleased the children.
- The dads’ contributions to the school fundraiser were significant this year.
- We were impressed by the dads’ choreographed dance at the talent show.
- The two families went camping, and the dads’ tents were pitched next to each other.
- At the annual parents’ meeting, the dads’ suggestions for school improvements were particularly insightful.
- It’s a tradition in our community for the dads’ choir to perform on Father’s Day.
However, the term dads’ is not that common in English because there are very few contexts in which you would be referring to something owned by a plural quantity of dads.
The reason for this is that dad is usually a word spoken by a child to their father. Therefore, it would be quite rare that you would refer to a group of males as dads.
The following example shows that fathers’ is a more common alternative to dads’ as a plural possessive.
- All the fathers’ reactions to their children being awarded a prize for bravery were of pride.
This point is exemplified by the fact that Father’s Day has the name it does, rather than being known as Dad’s Day.
Lastly, we’ll explain when you should use dads.
Dads
The term dads is the plural version of the word dad. That means you use it to refer to a plural quantity of dads.
A plural quantity can be a specific number of dads:
- Both of our dads are coming to the meal on Saturday night.
- All the dads gathered on the playground to watch the soccer match.
- The dads at the PTA meeting expressed their concerns about the new curriculum.
- During the school trip, three dads volunteered to chaperone the kids.
- The dads in our neighborhood have a monthly poker night.
Or it can refer to every dad in the world:
- Dads around the world are celebrating Father’s Day.
- Dads everywhere appreciate a little quiet time on the weekends.
- Dads often face challenges balancing work and family life.
- On Father’s Day, dads are showered with love and gratitude for their endless support.
- Dads globally share the joys and challenges of parenthood.
You do not put an apostrophe after the word dad unless you indicate that something belongs to the dad.