# EN: laundry - singular / plural



## coriinutza13

the noun laundry takes a singular or a plural verbs?


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## Mrs Large

Singular:

The laundry IS never finished!


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## Pierre Simon

One word of caution.  'Laundry' meaning clothes (_linge_) takes a singular verb and is invariable.  'Laundry' meaning the business which does washing (_blanchisserie_) has a plural 'laundries', and can, therefore, take either a singular or plural verb.


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## jann

Pierre Simon said:


> One word of caution.  'Laundry' meaning clothes (_linge_) takes a singular verb and is invariable.  'Laundry' meaning the business which does washing (_blanchisserie_) has a plural 'laundries', and can, therefore, take either a singular or plural verb.


Well sort of! 

"Laundry" (_blanchisserie, laverie) _wouldn't take a singular plural verb... but "laundries" (_blanchisseries, laveries) _would. 

In American English, we tend to call these establishments "laundromats" (even when they're not totally coin-operated)... or we talk about taking clothes "to the cleaner" or "to the cleaner's" (possessive, to indicate that it is his/her business, I suppose).  It would sound strange in AE to say "How many different laundries are there in this town?" if you were referring to laundry businesses.


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## itka

> "Laundry" (_blanchisserie, laverie) _wouldn't take a singular verb... but "laundries" (_blanchisseries, laveries) _would.


jann, ta phrase me laisse perplexe...que veux-tu dire exactement ?
_Could you elaborate_?


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## jann

Sorry! 

The original question was whether or not "laundry" can take a plural verb.  And the answer is no, it never can.  Because if we mean to say _laveries_ - which is plural, of course - we must spell it "laundries" in the plural instead!  The point is so very elementary that I've confused you by even mentioning it.  I just though there was the tiniest possibility for ambiguity above, but it seems I've made things worse instead of better.


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## Chimel

And is it: "to do laundry" or "to do the laundry"?

I see this example in the WR-dictionary: "On Sundays, I do laundry". Would "I do the laundry" be wrong?


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## Pierre Simon

Chimel said:


> Would "I do the laundry" be wrong?


 
Bonjour  

No.  In BE, it would be the more usual expression.


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## Chimel

Good to know, thanks !


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## jann

Pierre Simon said:


> In BE, it would be the more usual expression.


And in AE too!


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## itka

Thank you for your explanation, jann, but I am still confused...


> "Laundry" (_blanchisserie, laverie) _wouldn't take a singular verb... but "laundries" (_blanchisseries, laveries) _would.


 Est-ce que ce n'est pas le contraire que tu voulais dire ? Le nom "laundry" (au singulier) ne se construit qu'avec un verbe au singulier et le nom "laundries" (au pluriel) demande un verbe au pluriel ?
Ou est-ce que je n'ai rien compris ?


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## Chimel

jann said:


> And in AE too!


Then it would be fine to correct the sentence in the WR-dictionary, wouldn't it?


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## jann

itka said:


> Thank you for your explanation, jann, but I am still confused...
> Est-ce que ce n'est pas le contraire que tu voulais dire ?


Mince, itka, je suis vraiment désolée, je n'avais pas bien relu mon post n°4.  Tu as tout à fait raison, j'ai dit le contraire de ce que je voulais dire.  Je l'ai corrigé en haut... 


Chimel said:


> Then it would be fine to correct the sentence in the WR-dictionary, wouldn't it?


Sure, but the dictionaries are separate from the forums, and mods can't edit the dictionary.  Use the "suggestions" form in "links" box on the left side of the dictionary entry...   Omitting the definite article isn't unusual enough to sound strange to me, especially if you're talking about a habit as opposed to a particular instance of doing the laundry.


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## rbenham

Few points here: "On Sundays I do laundry" does indeed sound weird. However, I suppose you might say that at work you "do laundry", because "do *the* laundry" sounds like a reference to a specific batch of laundry, whereas if you work in an institutional laundry, it might be coming in all the time....

There is a convention in UK English, which doesn't seem as acceptable in the US variety, of using plural verbs with names of businesses, e.g. "The bank have closed my account"; so I suppose you might say "The laundry have starched my undies again!!"


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