What the difference (grammar) between bird's and birds'?

Question

like you know how the apostrophe can be in two places?

before the "s" and after the "s".

what's the diff?

Answer 1

While both are the possessive form of bird- that is, you are denoting that something belongs to a bird, the difference is in how many birds you are referring to.

If you are talking about something that belongs/pertains to ONE bird then use the construction "bird's"

If you are talking about something that belongs/pertains to MORE THAN ONE bird then use the construction "birds' "

But here' the complication...

In the olden days, to denote a possessive in a noun/proper noun that ends in "s" (e.g. Hans) you would have to add the apostrophe after the s and not add an extra "s." Which is why the second construction above is written the way it is. But, lately, no one seems to adhere to this old rule, so it may well be okay to use the first construction for ALL cases.

Answer 2

"Bird's" is a singular possessive, meaning something that belongs to one bird.  "Birds' is a plural possessive, meaning something that belongs to several birds. So the apostrophe goes before the "s" when you're talking about one, and after, when referring to more than one.  

Answer 3

If the apostrophe is before the s that is singular. You are talking about 1 bird.  

Ex: I saw a bird's nest.  

I have specified a single bird.

The apostrophe after the s signifies plural (ie- more than one).

Ex: The birds' section of the pet store was very noisy.

In this example there are two or more.  

Answer 4

both refers to "something of the ---" ;

the '---' being either 'bird' or 'birds'.

hope i didn't make you more confused. lol  

Answer 5

a bird's nest is the nest of one bird.

the birds' nests means there is more than one bird.  

Answer 6

If you say that it's the bird's nest, there is only one bird.

If you say that it's the birds' nest, there are at least two birds.

Answer 7

Both of them would mean possessive forms, however; bird's would refer to singular while birds' refers to prular.