彼らのもの
解説 Definition
すでに話題に出た物などが複数の人や物に属することを、名詞を繰り返さずに表す代名詞。
Theirs is an independent possessive pronoun indicating that something already identified belongs or relates to them. It replaces a phrase containing their plus a noun, thereby avoiding repetition of that noun.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
their car のように名詞を続けるのが their、The car is theirs. のように名詞の代わりになるのが theirs と覚えると定着しやすい。ours、yours、theirs はいずれも所有代名詞で、末尾の -s の前にアポストロフィーを置かない。比較文の than theirs では、同じ名詞の繰り返しを自然に避けられる。
Contrast their car with The car is theirs. Their must come before a noun, but theirs replaces the whole possessive noun phrase and stands independently. This makes comparisons such as Our garden is smaller than theirs natural, because theirs means “their garden” without repeating garden. Group it with ours and yours, which work in the same way. Although theirs ends in s, it never takes an apostrophe: their’s is incorrect. Remember the final s as a signal that the word can stand alone rather than needing a noun after it.
例文
That blue car is theirs.
あの青い車は彼らのものです。
Our garden is smaller than theirs.
私たちの庭は彼らの庭より小さいです。
The choice is theirs to make.
選ぶのは彼ら自身です。
theirs の類義語・関連語
紛らわしい語
theirs の語源・成り立ち Etymology
theirs は所有を示す their に、所有代名詞を作る語尾 -s が付いた形です。their は古ノルド語 þeirra「彼らの」に由来し、中英語に入りました。名詞の前に置く their に対し、theirs は名詞を伴わず単独で使います。アポストロフィーは付けません。
Theirs was formed from the possessive determiner their with an added -s, following a pattern found in independent possessive forms such as ours and yours. Their itself comes from Old Norse þeirra and entered English during the Middle English period. In modern usage, theirs functions without a following noun and is written without an apostrophe, because the final s is part of the pronoun rather than a contraction.
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