It might help to go through a few rules that separate the plural and possessive forms of proper nouns. This article will explore the key differences between “Saturdays” and “Saturday’s.” You should have everything figured out once you get through this.
Saturdays or Saturday’s?
“Saturdays” is the plural form of “Saturday.” You should use it when referring to a repeated instance of “Saturday” (i.e. “I like Saturdays”). You should use “Saturday’s” when “Saturday” owns an object. It is the singular possessive form, dictating ownership (i.e. “Saturday’s protocol”).
This table should help you to figure out the differences:
| Singular | Saturday |
| Plural | Saturdays |
| Singular possessive | Saturday’s |
| Plural possessive | Saturdays’ |
Standard English rules apply when creating the plural form here. You simply take the singular form (Saturday) and add an “s” to the end with nothing between them. “Saturdays” is the plural form.
The singular possessive form is a little trickier. You must place an apostrophe before the “s” to show that “Saturday’s” can own an object in the sentence.
The plural possessive form rules also include an apostrophe. This time, you do not need to include the “s.” Since “Saturdays” already has an “s,” placing an apostrophe after it will already work well.
Saturdays
“Saturdays” is the plural form of “Saturday.” You should use it when referring to a repeated instance of the same day in the week. It’s a good way to refer to multiple “Saturdays” at the same time without showing possession.
These examples will demonstrate how to use “Saturdays” in a sentence:
- I’m not a fan of Saturdays. There’s something about them that I just don’t get along with. I’m sorry.
- Saturdays are by far the best days of the week. It’s when the weekend officially kicks into action, which is great.
- I love Saturdays more than I love most people. There’s just something about them that really gets me feeling the groove.
- I’m not good on Saturdays. I feel like I never get enough sleep the night before, and they always end up sour.
- What is it about Saturdays that you dislike? I don’t get why you seem to have such a hard time with them.
It’s simple to remember plural rules here because they follow the same ones you expect from other nouns. For example, you would pluralize “ball” as “balls” or “stone” as “stones.” Proper nouns are no exception to these rules.
Other proper nouns (like names) follow similar plural rules if you come across multiple instances:
- Jackie
- Two Jackies
- Abbie
- Both Abbies
Saturday’s
You should use “Saturday’s” as the singular possessive form of “Saturday.” This means that a single instance of “Saturday” can own an object in a sentence. The object almost always comes after “Saturday’s” to show direct ownership.
Here are a few examples to teach you how to use “Saturday’s” in a sentence:
- I’m not sure if Saturday’s plans have changed at all, but everybody seems to agree that they’re not going.
- I thought about Saturday’s event last night, and I don’t think I’m going to attend. It doesn’t sound fun.
- This is my Saturday’s best. I’m not going to change it for anybody. I like how comfortable I am here.
- What about this Saturday’s gig? Are you still going to be able to make it, or should we look for a new drummer?
- Saturday’s menu is different from the one I’ve seen already. I wonder what happened with this.
Remember to include “‘s” at the end of “Saturday” to denote ownership. It’s also common for the object to come straight after the “s” to make it clear what “Saturday” owns.
In spoken English, “Saturday’s” is also used as a contraction. You may use it when shortening “Saturday is” into one word.
- Not every Saturday’s going to work out like this. Some are going to be better than others.
- I thought that Saturday’s your day of rest. Why are you working so much harder than the others?
- I’m not sure Saturday’s the best day to do this anymore. A few things have come up to ruin my plans.
Saturdays’
You will almost never come across the plural possessive form of “Saturday.” “Saturdays'” is technically correct and follows standard rules allowing multiple instances of “Saturday” to own one or many objects. However, this form is jarring and unused.
Plural possessive forms for days of the week are very uncommon. Most native speakers consider them redundant because you can use the singular form of the day of the week in most situations.
Here are a few examples to show you how to use “Saturdays'” in a sentence:
- Most of the previous Saturdays’ problems have been sorted out. I hope you don’t mind me fixing them.
- Many of those Saturdays’ events were rushed together. That’s why things didn’t work out all that well.
- I’m not going to those Saturdays’ galas anymore. I don’t see any reason why I should have to suffer through them.
To demonstrate a better way to exclude the plural possessive form, you can refer to the following:
- Each of those Saturday’s events had to be canceled.
- The Saturday events had to be canceled.
In example two, the plural possessive form is dropped, but the meaning stays the same. In place of the plural possessive form, you have the singular form and a plural noun. This is the most common way to show a repeated occurrence on the same day.
Tip to Remember the Difference
It’s always good to come up with a useful tip that helps you figure out the differences.
You need to add an “‘s” to the end of the singular form to create the singular possessive form. This is a standard rule in English, so once you remember it once, you will be able to apply it to most regular nouns.
For the plural possessive form, you only need to add an apostrophe after the plural form. There is already an “s” at the end of “Saturdays,” so an apostrophe is all you need to include.
Final Thoughts
You should only include an apostrophe when using a possessive form of some kind. “Saturdays” is the plural form (since no apostrophe is used). “Saturday’s” is the singular possessive form, which is common. “Saturdays'” is the plural possessive form, which is incredibly rare.