One/many plural rule for Russian/Belarusian/etc

I must take up this topic again.

Also for me it is unclear how the plural rules of FreeCol work. My translation language is a Slavic language as well, Upper Sorbian. The plural rules are dependent on a number. That is not new. But there is a different for the other rule: This rule says that nouns must be in genitive plural if the number is 5...100. But, if there is no number the nominative plural must be used.

FreeCol:Model.unit.masterWeaver.name/en

Is here a numerical variable contained in the result view? If yes,

{{plural:%number%|one=Master Weaver|other=Master Weavers|default=Master Weaver}}

would correspond to following MediaWiki plural:

{{PLURAL:$1|$1 Master Weaver|$1 Master Weavers}}

If not, it would correspond to MediaWiki plural:

{{PLURAL:$1|Master Weaver|Master Weavers}}

In Upper Sorbian the rules must look as follows:

In the first case,

{{PLURAL:$1|$1 Tkalči mišter|$1 Tkalčej mištraj|$1 Tkalči mištrojo|$1 Tkalčich mištrow}}

In the second case,

{{PLURAL:$1|Tkalči mišter|Tkalčej mištraj|Tkalči mištrojo|Tkalči mištrojo}}

In FreeCol this Upper Sorbian message would be used:

{{plural:%number%|one=tkalči mišter|two=tkalčej mištraj|few=tkalči mištrojo|other=tkalčich mištrow|default=Tkalči mišter}}

But this is valid only if numerical variable is expressed in result view. The result for the other rule would be

%number% tkalčich mištrow (genitive plural)

But if in the result view no numerical variable shall appear, the other rule would be

Tkalči mištrojo (nominative plural)

In my opinion, a message that shall contain the numerical variable %number% in the result view must have this numerical variable in front of the plural statement:

%number% {{plural:%number%|one=tkalči mišter|two=tkalčej mištraj|few=tkalči mištrojo|other=tkalčich mištrow|default=tkalči mišter}}

This results in: %number% tkalčich mištrow for the other rule.

But my example currently doesn't use a variable before the plural statement. What will be the result view for the other rule then? %number% Master Weavers or only Master Weavers?

Another issue is the use of a plural statement with collective nouns like food, grain etc. They are not countable. Here %amount% is the variable which is not before plural statement, either.

What will b the result for: {{plural:%amount%|one=Food|other=Food|default=Food}}?

%amount% Food or simply Food

In the first case I would expect the variable %amount% before the plural statement.

Thanks in advance.

The plural selector variable within the expression {{...}} is not inserted into the resulting expression. If a numeric expression is required, the variable is used again outside of the expression. Thus {{plural:%number%|one=Horse|other=Horses|default=Horses}} is expanded to "Horse" if %number% is one, and to "Horses" otherwise. The "default" rule is used when no %number% is supplied at all. So, I think the distinction between "other" and "default" is exactly what you are looking for.

Hello Burschik, thank you for your reply.

Hm, but the result view that appears after translation uses the other rule. The result of the translation is other=tkalčich mištrow if I use other rule for numbers resp. other=tkalči mištrojo if I use the other rule for missing numbers. Until now I used the nominative singular for the default rule but in the result view after translation displays the other rule.