in two weeks/ weeks' or week's time? (2024)

hi there
can someone tell me what expression I should use

in two weeks/ weeks' or week's time?

Thank you

Hello,

Have a close look at the previous threads:

http://www.wordreference.com/definition/weeks'

Hope it helps!

That's interesting. I was always under the impression that ... 's or ...s' translated to "is " (or are) Adding an "S" without an apostrophe makes it plural.

I guess what I mean is, I would have thought in two weeks time" would have been correct.

Vicky

tigerduck said:

Re: in two weeks/weeks' time/weeks time
Thank you for your answers.

Funny, in my book (Handbuch des englischen Sprachgebrauchs - it is mainly written in German) it says with a plural construction you can use it with or without the apostroph (examples from the book):

In five minutes/minutes' time (days/days')

In singular constructions the apostroph is necessary (again examples from the book):

In a week's/month's/year's time

Click to expand...

Source

The above is a quote from someone else's thread.

It is the possessive form of 's.
The weeks hold the time.
The time belonging to the two weeks.

I'm not 100% positive, but I think that German text is wrong.

Perhaps what the text of the book really means is that you can say:

In two weeks.

or

In two weeks' time.

mgwls said:

Perhaps what the text of the book really means is that you can say:

In two weeks.

or

In two weeks' time.

Click to expand...

Yes! Seems like the German text is not wrong, just a bit confusing.

vicky1027 said:

That's interesting. I was always under the impression that ... 's or ...s' translated to "is " (or are) Adding an "S" without an apostrophe makes it plural.

Click to expand...

It wouldn't be "he's wasting Lindas time." It's "he's wasting Linda's time."

The "'s" is a contraction of "is" in things like "it's, there's, he's".

If in doubt, check some reference sites.

HERE for BE.

HERE for AE.

They agree - one week's time, two weeks' time.

Both sources are listed in the sticky thread at the top of this forum.

For more general discussion about apostrophes and possessives, please look up possessive in the WR dictionary.

I thought we were being asked where the apostrophe went, not whether it was mandatory.

I think we need to have it, because we say in one week's time - never in one week time. This means we need the possessive apostrophe for two weeks too - i.e. two weeks' time.

SwissPete said:

Fascinating discussion, but why even use the word time in the expression? Wouldn't in two weeks convey the meaning? Can week(s) be anything but time?

Click to expand...

I realise this is a very old thread but had to respond...

There is a world of difference. If I say "I will complete the task in 2 weeks" I could be saying that the task will take 2 weeks (and I could schedule it to be completed in a year's time). On the other hand if I say "I will complete the task in 2 weeks' time" the task itself may take only one hour, but I am committing to have it done two weeks from now. So the meanings are entirely different.