's, is or has

What is the difference between 's, is and has?

In spoken English the words is and has are sometimes contracted to 's.

Have a look at the following examples:

  1. He's listening to music. → He is listening to music.
  2. He's listened to music. → He has listened to music.

In sentence 1. the 's is followed by listening. This verb has the ending -ing. It is Present Progressive (is + infinitive + -ing).

In sentence 2. the 's is followed by listened. This verb has the ending -ed. It is Present Perfect (regular: hass + infinitive + -ed or irregular: has + 3rd column of the irregular verbs).

's tells you whether you have to use is or has.