Meaning & use
nobody's
Last updated
Meanings
pronouninformal
The short form of 'nobody is' or 'nobody has', common in speech and informal writing.
Grammar: Used as a contraction: Nobody's perfect. = Nobody is perfect. Nobody's seen it. = Nobody has seen it.
Patterns
- nobody's + adjective
- nobody's + past participle
Nobody's home right now, so leave a message.
Nobody's perfect, so don't worry about small mistakes.
Nobody's seen him since Tuesday.
pronoun
Belonging to no person; the possessive form of 'nobody'.
Grammar: Shows possession: nobody's business, nobody's fault.
Patterns
- nobody's + noun
It's nobody's business what I do in my free time.
The broken window was nobody's fault.
phraseidiom
Used in fixed expressions like 'nobody's fool' or 'nobody's perfect' to say someone is not easily tricked or that mistakes are normal.
Grammar: These are set phrases; do not change the words.
Patterns
- be nobody's fool
- nobody's perfect
She's nobody's fool; she won't be cheated.
Nobody's perfect, so give him another chance.
Common combinations
- nobody's business
- What I earn is nobody's business but mine.
- nobody's fault
- The delay was nobody's fault.
- nobody's fool
- Don't try to trick him—he's nobody's fool.
- nobody's perfect
- Nobody's perfect, so learn from your errors.
- nobody's home
- We knocked, but nobody's home.
Commonly confused: nobody's or nobodies?
nobody's vs nobodies
This is the plural of 'nobody' (meaning unimportant people), not the contraction. 'Nobody's' has an apostrophe; 'nobodies' does not.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
'Nobody's perfect' means 'Nobody is perfect'. The other options wrongly combine the contraction with a verb form: 'nobody's know' is ungrammatical, 'nobody's knows' mixes 'is' with a third-person -s verb, and 'perfects' is a verb, not an adjective.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nobody's”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.