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A quick Chinese lesson
(thelemmy.club)
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this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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Three pigs
Two pigs
One pig
Zero pig ? Or zero pigs?
Honest question. Do we pluralize nouns of zero count? Or should they be singular?
It's plural, but not because there are many pigs.
"How many pigs are there?" And answering with "There are no pigs" use the noun "pigs" in the same way. They are referring to the "pig" category or kind. When answering knowing the actual count, it's a specific number or token.
But they are asking with the number zero specifically. "There is zero pig" is not how we speak.
It's because English is three or four languages all smashed together, usually by force.
If you insist on "is" then "zero" doesn't work. But if you use "are" the sentence, "There are zero pigs" is totally cromulant. That's because "pigs" in that sentence is addressing the category.
There are one pigs
there is one pig.
to be singular is the only non-plural state
In English you use plural for zero count. I have zero pigs. There are 0 cows.
And also it's not just zero, plural is for literally anything other than (positive) one: 2.3 pigs, -1 pigs, 0.2 pigs, etc.