The Hoffmans' or The Hoffman's

Answer 1

It all depends on what you mean. Neither form is correct if you simply want to refer to a family called Hoffman.

"The Hoffmans lived next door to me when I was a child." (A family whose surname was Hoffman lived next door to me.)

"I used to like going to the Hoffmans' house." (I liked going to the house that belonged to the Hoffmans.)

"I used to like going to the Hoffmans'." (Same meaning as above - the word 'house' or 'place' is understood.)

"I used to like going to the Hoffmans." (No apostrophe - the meaning is that I liked going to that family - the people not the house are being referred to.)

"I liked visiting the Hoffmans." (I liked visiting the family called Hoffman.)

"Hoffman's house was very big." (The house that belonged to a person called Hoffman was very big.)

"The Hoffman's car was brand new." (This usage would mean that the car belonged to someone known as 'The Hoffman' - a nickname.)

If the family name ends in s [Hoffmans] the apostrophe goes behind the s , otherwise we have the Hoffmanses. The Hoffman's is a possessive pronoun.The Hoffmans' is a plural pronoun.

Re the above: Neither The Hoffman's nor The Hoffmans' is a pronoun. They are both nouns, and both possessive nouns.