Note: This article describes a feature in Lokalise Expert. This feature is not available in Lokalise Vantage.
Lokalise allows you to create translation keys with plural forms. In this article you'll learn how to get started with plural keys.
Enabling plural forms for keys
To enable plural forms for a key, start by opening your project editor in Lokalise. Click on any key name to access the key editor.
If you can't open the key editor, ensure you have the necessary access rights and that key editing is enabled in your project settings.
Next, in the key editor go to the Advanced tab and turn on the This key requires plural forms option.
Lokalise handles plural forms automatically according to Unicode rules. This means that while some languages may have up to six forms, others, like English, might only need a few.
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You also have the option to enable Set as custom plural key.
Some file formats support plural keys that differ from the key itself. In most cases, you'll want to set this to match the key.
Using custom plural forms
In some cases, you might need to adjust plural forms for specific languages.
Custom plural forms can be configured either in the projects dashboard or the project editor. From the projects dashboard, locate your project, click the More icon next to the relevant language, and choose Settings.
If you're in the project editor, open the languages dropdown, find the language, and click More > Settings.
Once there, enable the Custom plural forms option, select the desired plural forms, and click Save.
Your selected language will now use the specified plural forms for this project. If you want to revert to the default plural forms, simply disable the Custom plural forms setting and save your changes.
Special notes
The file format you're using must support plurals to ensure they export correctly. If not, plural forms will be encoded as a JSON array in the translation field.
Plural keys do not support key referencing.
Google-translate empty values key action is unavailable for plurals.
QA checks are unavailable for plurals.
Translation memory does not support plurals.
MT (Standard AI) inline suggestions are not available for plural keys.
MT (Standard AI) used through automations translates only the plural forms that exist in the source language. Additional plural forms available in the target language are left empty.
Languages may have different numbers of plural forms. As a result, some AI workflows behave differently when the target language contains more plural forms than the source language.
Lokalise AI (Pro AI) supports generating all plural forms required by the target language when used through automations or AI tasks.
In the inline suggestion sidebar, Lokalise AI (Pro AI) works on a per-form basis. It provides suggestions for individual plural forms rather than generating all target-language plural forms at once.