Three words. One pronunciation. Three completely different jobs.
- Their means belonging to them.
- There is about a place, or it starts there is / there are.
- They're is short for they are.
All three in one sentence:
They're convinced their spare key is hidden somewhere over there, under a very suspicious flowerpot.
Their: belongs to them
Use their to show that something belongs to a group of people, or to one person whose gender you don't know or don't need to say.
The pattern is simple: their + noun.
My neighbours painted their front door bright yellow.
The students forgot their homework, all at the same time.
Someone left their coffee on the train.
If you can replace it with our or my and the sentence still makes sense, their is the one you want.
There: place, and "there is / there are"
There has two everyday jobs.
1. A place, the opposite of here:
Put the boxes over there, next to the window.
I've never been to Iceland, but I'd love to go there.
2. Saying that something exists, with there is and there are:
There is a strange noise coming from the kitchen.
There are two buses an hour on Sundays.
In speech, there is often becomes there's: There's a problem with the printer.
They're: they are
They're is a short form of they are. The apostrophe shows where the letter a disappeared.
They're always late, but they bring amazing cake.
Don't worry about the kids. They're playing in the garden.
I've met your parents. They're lovely!
The expansion test: say they are instead. If the sentence still works, they're is correct.
They're lovely → They are lovely ✅
The weird part: three words, one sound
Say their, there and they're out loud. In most accents they sound exactly the same.
Words like this are called homophones: same sound, different spelling, different meaning. (Homo = same, phone = sound.)
They aren't even related. There is an old English word. Their arrived much later, borrowed from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings. They only ended up sounding identical by accident.
So when you hear the sound, it gives you no clue at all. Only the meaning tells you which spelling to write. That's a very English problem: the spelling keeps a difference that the pronunciation has lost.
English is full of these sound-alike traps. Affect and effect often sound almost the same too, and then and than are only one letter apart.
Easy way to tell them apart
Ask three quick questions:
- Can I say they are? → they're
- Does something belong to them? → their
- Is it a place, or there is / there are? → there
Easy way to remember it
- There has here inside it: here and there are both places.
- Their has heir inside it. An heir is someone who inherits things, so it's all about belonging.
- They're has an apostrophe, and that little mark always means something is missing: here, the a from they are.
Common mistakes
Can you say they are? Then it's they're.
❌ Their going to love this film.
✅ They're going to love this film.
Is it a place? Use there.
❌ Leave your shoes over their.
✅ Leave your shoes over there.
Does it belong to them? Use their.
❌ There house is right next to the beach.
✅ Their house is right next to the beach.
Saying something exists? Use there is / there are.
❌ Their is a problem with my phone.
✅ There is a problem with my phone.
Good to know
Two more sound-alikes cause similar trouble:
- theirs = belonging to them, used without a noun: That car isn't ours, it's theirs.
- there's = there is: There's someone at the door.
Notice that theirs never has an apostrophe.
In a conversation
Ana: Are the Garcias still coming tonight?
Ben: Yes, they're on their way. Their train was late.
Ana: No problem, there's plenty of food. Tell them to park over there.
Quick check
- The twins left ______ umbrellas at the café again. (their / there / they're)
- ______ are three cafés on my street. (Their / There / They're)
- I called my cousins, but ______ not answering. (their / there / they're)
- Which is correct: That bike is theirs or That bike is their's?
- Why can't you choose the right word just by listening?
Answers
- their: the umbrellas belong to the twins.
- There: there are says that something exists.
- they're: they are not answering works.
- That bike is theirs: theirs never has an apostrophe.
- They are homophones: they sound the same, so only the meaning tells you the spelling.