s'

See also: Appendix:Variations of "s"

English

Etymology 1

Contraction

s'

2. (colloquial) Clitic form of it's.

   Alternative form: 's

   • 1965 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book I: Dune”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 156:

     He touched her shoulder and she lifted herself on her elbows, head tipped up to peer at him, the eyes black-shadowed emptiness. “S’you,” she gasped. “Killed . . . guard […]”

   • 1983, Paul Wheeler, chapter 2, in Bodyline: The Novel, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 29:

     “Who’d yer reckon’ll skipper, Loll?” “I dunno. S’hard to say—”

   • 1993 October, Glenn Alterman, “Men’s Monologues”, in 2 Minutes and Under: Original Character Monologues for Actors, Lyme, N.H.: Smith and Kraus, →ISBN, page 1:

     S’cold here, very cold . . . in Siberia.

   • 2007, Christine Fieldhouse, “Is Your Daddy Going to Heaven or Helen?”, in Why Do Monsters Come Out at Night?, London: Hay House, →ISBN, page 274:

     And what was my dad trying to say? Shut up? S’hot in here? Or sorry?

   • 2011, Joan Kilby, chapter 13, in In His Good Hands, Toronto, Ont.: Harlequin, →ISBN, page 231:

     “I’m not drunk,” she said, waving her glass. “I never drink more than two glasses of wine.” She frowned. “Although s’hard to count when the glass is never empty. […]”

   • 2013, Michael Goodell, chapter 13, in Rebound, Diana, Tex.: White Bird Publications, →ISBN, page 198:

     Then it rang. Pick up. “Jim? Jim? Are you there?” / Something s’posed to do. Oh, yeah. Talk. “Karn. S’you?” / “Jim what’s going on? […]”

   • 2017 August 8, Robert J[an] Mrazek, chapter 18, in Dead Man’s Bridge (A Jake Cantrell Mystery; 1), New York, N.Y.: Crooked Lane Books, →ISBN, page 191:

     “Ben,” I called out to him again. His eyes slowly opened and took me in. “S’you, Jake?” he mumbled. “Yeah.”

   • 2017 September 21, Cass Green, chapter 11, in In a Cottage in a Wood, London: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 61:

     ‘Hello?’ […] / ‘S’me!’ she says. / ‘Who?’ / Neve pauses, frowning. / ‘S’Neve,’ she says a bit less cheerfully.

Derived terms

• s'not

Related terms

• 's (“is”)

Etymology 2

Interjection

s'

1. (colloquial) Clitic form of so.
   • 1987, Jean Ure, chapter 2, in Tea-leaf on the Roof, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Heinemann New Windmills, published 1990, →ISBN, page 17:

     William chewed and swallowed. “S’what about the Council?” “What about them?” “Aren’t they going to do anything?”

   • 1990 April, Jo Goodman, “February 13, 1873—Washington, D.C.”, in Passion’s Sweet Revenge (Marshall Brothers; 2), New York, N.Y.: Zebra Books, →ISBN, page 330:

     “S’what about the baby?” he asked, thrusting his chin out. / So he did remember. Scott was beginning to wonder. “A little girl,” he said. He added bluntly, “She lived only a few minutes.”

   • 2008 July, Simon Oliver, John Constantine, Hellblazer: Chas – The Knowledge, New York, N.Y.: DC Comics, published 2009, →ISBN, [number 1]:

     THANKS FOR THE OFFER CHAS, BUT EVEN IF YOU COULD GET IN, HAVING A GRANDDAD CHARGING ACROSS THE DANCE FLOOR IN HIS TESCO’S DENIM MAY NOT BE SUCH A GOOD IDEA. / S’WHAT ABOUT JOHN THEN? / IF HE’S WITH ME, CHAS, LET’S JUST SAY HE’S STILL GOT IT.

Conjunction

s'

1. (colloquial) Clitic form of so.
   • 1995, Daniel Alexander Jones, Earthbirds, Jazz, and Raven’s Wings (unpublished manuscript), page 18; quoted in Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, “The Blue Note: Daniel Alexander Jones”, in Theatrical Jazz: Performance, Àṣẹ, and the power of the Present Moment (Black Performance and Cultural Criticism), Columbus, Oh.: Ohio State University Press, 2015, →ISBN, part 1 (The Ensemble / Ẹgbẹ́ / Community), page 83:

     Down there you also had a lot of / Intermarriage and half-breeding / S’you don’t know who’s who

   • 1996, Donald Johnston, chapter 11, in The Echoes of L’Arbre Croche, [Michigan?]: Lord & Allerton, →ISBN, part 3 (Strange Caller), page 160:

     “[…] Ben Corvet give me all money I want or I talk!” “Talk?” “S’you know it! I ain’t goin’ . . . .” He choked and fell back.

   • 1997, Nick Barlay, “Four am Monday”, in Curvy Lovebox, London: 20/20, →ISBN, page 9:

     ― Don’t really know ’em no. Not really. Friends of friends. Na mean. / ― S’you don’t know ’em.

   • 2016, Jane Redd, chapter 33, in Solstice, [Lehi, Ut.]: Mirror Press, →ISBN, page 257:

     “What type of punishments?” / Her green eyes brightened. “Break you hard . . . s’you don’t get any mighty ideas of moving up to no higher level.”

Etymology 3

Verb

s'

1. (colloquial) Clitic form of is.
   • 1857, Mrs. C[harles] W[heeler] Denison [i.e., Mary Andrews Denison], “Jupe Taken to the Coffin-Maker’s House”, in Gracie Amber, New York, N.Y.: Sheldon, Blakeman & Co.; Chicago, Ill.: S[amuel] C[hapman] Griggs & Co., →OCLC, chapter XV (Jupe and the Sailor Boarding-House), page 97:

     “Hallo! Jupe—s’this you?” he exclaimed—“shew! crying? shew! what’s e’matter, Jupe?”

   • 1990, John Byrne, “Throwing Up in the Gorbals”, in Your Cheatin’ Heart, London: BBC Books, →ISBN, pages 18–19:

     Shirley] […] S’that him there? She points at the paper. Tracey] Naw, that’s Dwane . . .

   • 2002, Hugh Collins, chapter 6, in The Licensee, Edinburgh: Canongate Crime, →ISBN, page 72:

     Janis surprises them – ‘Pat? S’that you? […]’

   • 2005, Allen Wyler, chapter 2, in Deadly Errors, New York, N.Y.: Forge, →ISBN, page 30:

     On his side, knees against his chest, Larry Childs struggled to roll onto his stomach when something kicked his leg. A white-hot ember glowed in the back of his mouth above his tongue, stealing his breath. “What the hell . . .” that voice said. “Oh, Blessed Virgin Mary, Larry, s’that you? What’s wrong?”

Related terms

• 's (“is”)

Etymology 4

Verb

s'

1. (colloquial, rare) Clitic form of see; used in s'you later.

Etymology 5

Determiner

s'

1. (colloquial, rare) Clitic form of this.
   • 1999 August 4, c o jones, “britain^[sic] is best ?”, in uk.rec.sheds‎^[1] (Usenet), archived from the original on 8 March 2026:

     I erd on the radio s'mornin Britain as the safest beef in the worl'

   • 2000 June 18, chris r, “Currying Flavor...”, in free.uk.btinternet.chatter.refugees‎^[2] (Usenet), archived from the original on 8 March 2026:

     >> clever lot us cornish!
     >
     >aye. surprised i was first to get it. it was already 45mins old by the
     >time i read it.
     must be the sun frying brains s'morning...

   • 2000 October 23, Martha Bridegam, “New Orwell biography”, in alt.books.george-orwell‎^[3] (Usenet), archived from the original on 8 March 2026:

     It made "Arts & Letters Daily" s'morning -- the third Meyers biography review to do so. Someone over there must have an Orwell bug.

Albanian

Alternative forms

• së

Etymology

Short for së (“not”) (not to be confused with adjectival article së and conjunction se (“that (as), when”)). This is in turn from Proto-Albanian *tśe, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷíd (“that (relative)”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s/, (before voiced consonants) /z/

Adverb

s'

1. negates the meaning of the modified verb: not, don't

   Synonym: nuk

   Unë di. - Unë s'di.

   I know. - I don't know.

   Jam, s'jam. Je, s'je.

   I am, I'm not. You are, you aren't.

Related terms

• mos

Asturian

Pronoun

s'

1. apocopic form of se before a vowel

Catalan

Pronoun

s’

1. contraction of es

Usage notes

• s' is the elided (elida) form of the pronoun. It is used before verbs beginning with a vowel.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

number	person		nominative	proclitic		enclitic		possessive
				accusative	dative	accusative	dative
singular	1st	standard	jo, mi3	em, m’		-me, ’m		meu
		majestic1	nós	ens		-nos, ’ns		nostre
	2nd	standard	tu	et, t’		-te, ’t		teu
		formal1	vós	us		-vos, -us		vostre
		very formal2	vostè	el, l’	li	-lo, ’l	-li	seu
	3rd	m	ell	el, l’	li	-lo, ’l	-li	seu
		f	ella	la, l’4	li	-la	-li	seu
		n	―	ho	li	-ho	-li	seu
plural
	1st		nosaltres	ens		-nos, ’ns		nostre
	2nd	standard	vosaltres	us		-vos, -us		vostre
		formal2	vostès	els		-los, ’ls		seu
	3rd	m	ells	els		-los, ’ls		seu
		f	elles	les	els	-les	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd reflexive			si	es, s’		-se, ’s		seu
adverbial	ablative/genitive		―	en, n’	―	-ne, ’n	―
	locative			hi		-hi

¹ Behaves grammatically as plural.   ² Behaves grammatically as third person.
³ Only as object of a preposition.   ⁴ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Franco-Provençal

Conjunction

s'

1. apocopic form of se

Pronoun

s'

1. apocopic form of sè

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s‿/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Conjunction

s’

1. Elision of si (“if”) before il or ils.

   S’il vous plaît ― Please / Here you are. (literally, “If it pleases you.”)

   S’il te plaît. ― Please / Here you are (literally, “If it pleases you.”)

   Je ne sais pas s’ils viendront demain.

   I don’t know if they will come tomorrow.

Pronoun

s’ (third person)

1. Elision of se before a word beginning with a vowel.

   Il s’habille. ― He’s dressing (himself).

   Il s’aime. ― He loves himself.

   Ils s’aiment.

   They love themselves. / They love each other.

2. (informal) Elision of se before a word beginning with a consonant.

   Y s’bouge le cul ou quoi? ― Is he movin’ his ass or what?

Further reading

• “s'”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Pronoun

s' (apocopated)

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of si

Usage notes

• Commonly elides before a vowel, especially i and e.

See also

Italian personal pronouns

			nominative		atonic (clitic)11						tonic12
					accusative / dative-reflexive	accusative	dative		locative	partitive	prepositional-reflexive	oblique
singular
	first		io		mi, m', -mi, me9				―		―	me
	second		tu		ti, t', -ti, te9							te
	second formal / polite5		Lei, Ella8		―	La, -La, L'	Le, -Le					Lei
	third	m	lui, egli,8 ello,8 elli,3, 8 esso8		si,6 s', -si, se,9 ci13	lo, l', -lo, il4	glie9	gli, -gli, il4	ci, c', vi,1 v'1	ne, n'	sé	lui, esso8
		f	lei, ella,8 essa8			la, l', -la		le, -le, gli,2 -gli2				lei, essa8
plural
	first		noi		ci, c', -ci, ce,9 ne,4 n'4				―		―	noi
	second		voi, Voi7		vi, Vi,7 v', V',7 -vi, -Vi,7 ve9							voi, Voi7
	second formal / polite5		Loro		―	Le, -Le	Loro10					Loro
	third	m	loro	elli,3, 8 ellino,4, 8 eglino,4, 8 essi8	si, s', -si, se9	li, -li	loro,10 gli,2 -gli,2 glie9		ci, c', vi,1 v'1	ne, n'	sé	loro	essi8
		f		elle,3, 8 elleno,4, 8 esse8		le, -le							elle,8 esse8

¹ Formal.
² Informal.
³ Archaic.
⁴ Obsolete or literary.
⁵ Grammatically third person forms used semantically in the second person as a formal or polite way of addressing someone (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
⁶ Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
⁷ Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).
⁸ Traditional grammars still indicate the forms egli (animate), ello / ella (animate), esso / essa and their plurals as the nominative forms of the third person pronouns; outside of very formal or archaizing contexts, all such forms have been replaced by the obliques lui, lei, loro.
⁹ Forms used when followed by a third-person direct object proclitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).
¹⁰ Used after verbs.
¹¹ Unstressed forms, stand alone forms are found proclitically (except dative loro / Loro), others enclitically (-mi, -ti, etc.).
¹² Disjunctive, emphatic oblique forms used as direct objects placed after verbs (or before them, chiefly in literary Italian), in exclamations, along prepositions (prepositional) and some adverbs (come, quanto, etc.); also used with a to create alternative emphatic dative forms.
¹³ Only in "ci si", replaces indefinite si (“one”) before reflexive si (“oneself”).

Manx

Alternative forms

• s- (used before a vowel)
• sh- (used before front vowels)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Irish is, from Proto-Celtic *esti, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti.

Particle

s'

1. Present/future copula form

   S'mie lhiam shillishyn.

   I am fond of cherries.

   Shegin dooin goll dy chaggey.

   We have to go to war.

   my saillt ― please (said to one person)

2. Used to introduce the comparative/superlative form of adjectives

   V'ee yn inneen s'bwaaee 'sy theihll.

   She was the prettiest girl in the world.

   fer s'gilley jeh mooinjey y vadran ― the brightest of the sons of the morning

Usage notes

Only used with adjectives. When nouns are equated with each other, use she.

Neapolitan

Pronoun

s’

1. (before a vowel) apocopic form of se

Norman

Etymology

Old French se < Latin sē.

Pronoun

s'

1. third-person singular reflexive pronoun; oneself

   s'rêjoui ― to enjoy oneself

Old French

Pronoun

s'

1. his; her; its (elided form of son or sa before a word starting with a vowel)

   s'oreille ― his ear

Romagnol

Conjunction

s'

1. apocopic form of se (“if”)
   • 1920, Olindo Guerrini, edited by Zanichelli, Sonetti romagnoli, published 1967:

     S'aví pazenzia d' lezer ste librett E ch'a sbrucheva i virs in rumagnol A i truvarí zinquanta e piò sunett Ch'av gudrí ch'a farí dal scapariol.

     If [you] are patient to read this book and you (can) understand the poetry in Romagnol you will find more than fifty sonnets that will entertain you more than tumbling.

Sardinian

Article

s' m or f (Logudorese, Campidanese, Nuorese)

1. apocopic form of su, used before a vowel: the (masculine singular definite article)
2. apocopic form of sa, used before a vowel: the (feminine singular definite article)

Sassarese

Pronoun

s'

1. apocopic form of si, used before a vowel