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'Your' shows that something belongs to you; 'you\'re' is a shortening of 'you are'.
Side-by-side comparison
"Your" is the second-person possessive adjective: it shows that something belongs to you. "Your book" = the book that belongs to you. No apostrophe. "Is this your bag?" = does this belong to you?
Is this your laptop or mine?
Your presentation was excellent.
Please send your feedback by Friday.
"You're" is a contraction of "you are". Use it only when you can substitute "you are". "You're welcome" = you are welcome. The apostrophe marks the missing letter 'a'.
You're the best candidate for this position.
I hope you're feeling better today.
You're going to love this restaurant.
Common mistake
- •One of the most frequent spelling errors in English.
- •Classic mistake: "Your going to be late" (correct: You're).
- •Or "You're shoes are muddy" (correct: Your shoes).
Trick to remember it
Substitute with "you are", if the sentence still makes sense, use "you're"; if not, use "your." "You are shoes" = nonsense = "your"; "You are going to be late" = makes sense = "you're."
Quick rule
Expand the contraction: if "you are" fits, use "you're." If not, use "your."
Did you know?
The YOUR/YOU'RE error is so omnipresent in written English on the internet that entire social media accounts, memes, and even T-shirts exist dedicated exclusively to pointing it out and correcting it. The phenomenon says something interesting about digital writing: informal writing in social networks, messages, and chats does not go through the same cognitive checks as writing on paper. The speed of typing and autocorrect (which sometimes makes the problem worse) make perfect homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently, especially vulnerable in digital text. The three most mocked pairs form the "shame trio" of written English: YOUR/YOU'RE, THEIR/THEY'RE/THERE, ITS/IT'S.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
_____ the best! I couldn't have done it without you.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
Is this _____ umbrella or did you find it?
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
The apostrophe contracts 'it is' or 'it has'; without it, the word shows possession.
One indicates a place, the other shows possession.
One means to receive or agree to something, the other means to exclude or not include.
'Advice' is the guidance you receive (noun); 'advise' is the act of giving that guidance (verb).
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy