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Make dynamic labels singular or plural based on count (1 item vs 0 items)
Format natural summary strings ("1 pallet", "0 entries", "5 boxes") by testing ABS(Qty) = 1 for regular and irregular nouns.
Why pluralization checks Qty = 1 (not Qty > 1)
For these English integer quantity labels, zero uses the plural and absolute quantity one uses the singular. This is a selected display rule, not a universal pluralization algorithm.
For regular nouns, append IF(A2=1, "", "s") directly; for irregular plurals ("entry"/"entries", "box"/"boxes"), choose between explicit Singular and Plural cells with IF(A2=1, B2, C2).
| Qty (A) | Singular (B) | Plural (C) | Formatted Phrase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pallet | pallets | 1 pallet |
| 0 | entry | entries | 0 entries |
| 5 | box | boxes | 5 boxes |
Irregular and regular plural formulas
Use ABS(A2)=1 when variance reports display "-1 day" versus "-3 days".
=A2 & " " & IF(ABS(A2)=1, B2, C2)Compact regular-noun "s" suffix formula
When the noun simply adds "s", no plural lookup column is needed.
=A2 & " " & B2 & IF(ABS(A2)=1, "", "s")Inputs and interpretation
Use locale-specific plural rules for translated UI or fractional quantities. Numeric 1 and 1.0 lose their original spelling in a cell; a simple equality test cannot preserve decimal-dependent grammar. The suffix-s shortcut is only for regular nouns.
Try the example
Use the original values or change them to test your understanding.