Petrus said:Hello MHB,
I Was woundering WHY is zero in plural? Exemple "I got zero cats". What do you think?
Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)
Thanks! Yep I mean "I have zero cats" i have no clue WHY i typed "I got zero cats"Ackbach said:If you are trying to express the fact that you do not have any cats, then the correct English would be "I have zero cats", or even better: "I have no cats". Alternatively, you could use the singular here and say, "I have no cat." It is incorrect to say "I got zero cat", because cats are denumerable. If you say, "I got zero cats", then you are talking about a hypothetical acquisition of cats, in which you did not succeed. It is incorrect to say "I got zero cats" if you really mean that you do not presently have any cats. You will often hear "I've got no cats". That is not quite as correct as some other suggestions, but it is colloquial.
With language, most of the time, the answer to why anything is the way it is is simply convention. Why is English spelling the mess that it is? Convention. Why are there so many exceptions to rules in English? Convention.
Curiously, in Latin, the adjective 'nullus/nulla/nullum', which means 'no', declines to follow the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case. So, in Latin, the sentence "I have no cats" would read "Nullae feles habeo". Or "I have no cat" would read "Nulla felis habeo". There is no 'zero' in Latin, so I can't show you how that (doesn't) work.
Petrus said:Thanks! Yep I mean "I have zero cats" i have no clue WHY i typed "I got zero cats"
Regards,
\(\displaystyle |\pi\rangle\)
Zero is considered a plural number because it refers to the absence or lack of something. In mathematics, numbers are categorized as either singular or plural, and zero falls under the plural category. It is also commonly used in the plural form in everyday language, such as "zero dollars" or "zero people".
No, zero cannot be both singular and plural. It is always considered a plural number in mathematics and grammar. However, it can be used as a singular noun in certain contexts, such as "zero degree Celsius" or "zero point".
Zero is used in the plural form for counting because it represents an exact quantity of nothing. It is used to indicate the absence or lack of objects or individuals, and therefore falls under the plural category. For example, saying "zero apples" means that there are no apples present.
Zero is considered both a number and a concept. As a number, it represents the quantity of nothing and is used in mathematical calculations. As a concept, it represents the idea of absence or emptiness and is used in various fields such as philosophy, physics, and computer science.
No, the plural form of zero is not used in all languages. Some languages, such as Japanese and Korean, do not have a plural form for numbers and simply use the singular form for all numbers, including zero. Other languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, have a dual form for numbers, which is used for the number two but not for zero.