there's
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- (General American)
- (weak form) IPA(key): /ðəɹz/
- (strong form) IPA(key): /ðɛəɹz/, /ðɛɹz/
Audio; /ðɛəɹz/: (file)
- (Received Pronunciation)
- (weak form) IPA(key): /ðəz/
- (strong form) IPA(key): /ðɛəz/, [ðɛːz]
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ðeːz/
- (New Zealand)
- (cheer–chair merger) IPA(key): /ðiəz/
- (without the cheer–chair merger) IPA(key): /ðeəz/
- (Scotland) IPA(key): /ðeɹz/
- (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA(key): /ðɜː(ɹ)z/
- Homophone: theirs
- Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)z
Contraction
there's
- Contraction of there is.
- There’s a strange guy over there.
- There’s far too much attention being paid to it.
- I've made up my mind; there's no arguing with me.
- (nonstandard) Contraction of there are.
- There’s some chairs in the garage, aren’t there?
- 1971 October 11, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, “Imagine”, Imagine, Apple Records:
- Imagine there’s no countries.
- Contraction of there + has.
- There’s been an accident!
- (colloquial) Contraction of there + was.
- (colloquial) Contraction of there + does.
Usage notes
- In some respects, sense 2 is not a distinct sense; some speakers use "there is" even where Standard English would require "there are", and "there's" may therefore be seen as a contraction of "there is" even in such cases. However, it is listed separately here because there are many speakers who do distinguish "there is" from "there are" when not using the contraction, but who use the contraction "there's" in all cases; thus, these speakers may be said to use "there's" as a general contraction for both "there is" and "there are".