The word lady’s is the singular possessive form of lady. E.g., “The lady’s car is damaged.” Furthermore, ladies’ is the plural possessive form. E.g., “Tomorrow is ladies’ night at the bar.” Finally, ladies is the standard plural. E.g., “Two ladies were looking for you in your office.”
The word lady has an irregular plural form that you can make by adding “-ies.” This table provides an overview of each form of the word lady.
| Singular | Lady |
| Plural | Ladies |
| Singular possessive | Lady’s |
| Plural possessive | Ladies’ |
Here are some examples so you can see how you can use the different forms of lady in a sentence.
- Singular: The lady looked highly pleased with the good news.
- Plural: The man said, “ladies first,” and held the door open for her as she entered.
- Singular possessive: The lady’s room was small and damp.
- Plural possessive: Many people feel that Daquiris are a ladies’ drink.
You don’t want to make a mistake when you are using the different forms of lady. Therefore, you should keep reading the rest of the article to learn more about how to use the possessive versions of lady.
Lady’s
The term lady’s is the singular possessive form of lady. Therefore, you use it to indicate that something belongs to one lady. It is a more formal term than synonyms such as woman, girl, or female.
To begin, you can use lady’s to refer directly to something that a lady owns:
- The lady’s bag is made of leather.
Alternatively, you can use it to refer to an opinion or a physical feature:
- The lady’s foot was hurt in the accident.
- The lady’s outrage at the parking fine was understandable.
Ladies’
The term ladies’ is the plural possessive form of lady. Therefore, you can use it when referring to something a group of females owns or possesses.
The ownership of something can be in a traditional sense:
- The ladies’ dogs play together in the park every Friday morning.
Furthermore, the term ladies’ appears in several common phrases.
For example, ladies’ man refers to a man popular with many women, usually in a romantic sense.
- He has always been a ladies’ man and never got married or had kids.
Also, the term ladies’ drink refers to a drink that many people consider is only suitable for women to drink, such as cocktails.
- My husband will not drink wine in public because he says it is a ladies’ drink.
Finally, the term ladies’ room usually refers to a bathroom in public buildings, which are commonly restaurants and bars.
- The ladies’ room in the reception area was pristinely clean.
Ladies
The term ladies is the standard plural form of lady, and you can use it to refer to several females consisting of two or more.
- I will ask the ladies living across the street whether they have seen my cat.
The term ladies appears in a famous phrase, which is ladies first. This phrase is a polite gesture usually performed by men to allow women to enter a place or take a turn at something before men.
- I have a question I would like to ask. However, ladies first, please go ahead and ask your question, Mary.