they've
/ðeɪv/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Northumbria/ðəv/
they've is the contraction of they.
Meaning of they
Pronoun
they (third-person, nominative case, usually plural, sometimes singular, objective case them, possessive their, possessive noun theirs, reflexive themselves, or reflexive singular themself)
- A group of entities previously mentioned.
- Fred and Jane? They just arrived.
- One whose gender is unknown, irrelevant, or both.
- Somebody requested a seat at Friday's performance but didn't say if they preferred the balcony or the floor. [The gender is unknown and irrelevant.]
- One who is nonbinary.
- There is no need to panic. Robin should be here soon and they will know what to do. [Robin is nonbinary and uses singular they.]
- People; some people; people in general; someone, excluding the speaker.
- They say it’s a good place to live.
- The authorities, the (power) elites, the powers that be, the establishment, the man, the system: government, police, employers, etc.
- They'll tax us for the air we breathe next.
- The opponents of the side which is keeping score.
- Antonyms:
- we
Phrases with they've
Words that rhyme with they've
Questions about they've
- What is they've the contraction of?
- They've is the contraction of they.
- How do you pronounce they've?
- They've is pronounced /ðeɪv/.
Words near they've in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: they've (page history and authors); they (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-they've.ogg.
Cite this entry: “they've.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/they%27ve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
