there's

See also: theres and Theres

English

Alternative forms

• der's
• dere's

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • (stressed) IPA^(key): /ðɛəz/, /ðɛːz/
  • (unstressed) IPA^(key): /ðəz/
• (US)
  • (stressed) IPA^(key): /ðɛɚz/, /ðɛɹz/
  • (unstressed) IPA^(key): /ðɚz/

  • Audio (US) (stressed, /ðɛɚz/)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)z, -ɛː(ɹ)z
• Homophone: theirs

Contraction

there's

1. Contraction of there is.

   There’s a strange guy over there.

   There's far too much attention being paid to it.

2. (nonstandard) Contraction of there are.

   There’s some chairs upstairs, aren’t there?

   • 1971 October 11, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, “Imagine”, Imagine, Apple Records:

     Imagine there’s no countries.

3. Contraction of there has.

   There’s been an accident!

4. (colloquial) Contraction of there was.
5. (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".

Anagrams

• Ehrets, Esther, Hester, ethers, threes