English Café: Its and It’s

Advanced Details: Its and It’s

When to use its or it’s

First things first, it is a third-person singular neuter pronoun, used to stand in for inanimate (not alive) things or ideas. Now, here’s the main point, the big takeaway: its is just 1 word; it’s is the shortened form of 2 words.

• Its is a possessive form of the pronoun it, meaning belonging to it. (mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs)
• It’s is a contraction (shortened form) of the words it is or it has.

If you’re trying to figure out whether you should write it’s or its, swap in it is or it has. If the sentence makes sense with either of those substitutions, use it’s. If the resulting sentence doesn’t make sense, you need its.