You're

How to spell you're

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce you're

What does you're mean?

1. otherA contraction of 'you are', combining the pronoun with the verb.

You're in a sentence

• I think you're very kind to help.

• You're welcome to come along.

• I hope you're feeling better today.

• You're going to love this song.

• Whenever you're ready, let me know.

Where does you're come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a contraction of the two words 'you are', formed by joining the pronoun 'you' to a shortened form of the verb 'are', with an apostrophe marking the missing letter 'a'. The pronoun 'you' descends from Old English 'eow', the object form of 'ge', meaning the people being addressed, while 'are' comes from Old English 'earun', the present plural of the verb 'to be'. Written contractions like this became common in English during the 1600s as informal speech patterns crept into print. The apostrophe stands in for the dropped sound, exactly as in 'they're' and 'we're'. The whole reason 'you're' is so often confused with 'your' is that the two are pronounced identically and the apostrophe carries the only visible signal that a verb is hiding inside.

How the word is built

• you
• 're (contracted "are")

Words that sound like you're

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• your: Belonging to or associated with the person or people being addressed.