“Two millions” or “two million”: which is correct?
The short answer
When stating an exact number, English uses the singular form: two million, three million, etc. The plural form millions is only used when talking about an unspecified, large quantity (for example, millions of people).
Why people get it wrong
People often add s to million because, in general English usage, we pluralize nouns when talking about more than one. However, numbers like million, billion, or thousand act as quantifiers and remain singular when preceded by a number. The error comes from overgeneralizing the pluralization rule.
What kind of mistake it is
It is a grammatical error related to the incorrect pluralization of a quantifier followed by a count noun.
Examples with two million
- They won two million dollars.
- Three million people attended the event.
- His business made five million in profits.
Quick check
They won dollars.
When stating an exact number, English uses the singular form: two million, three million, etc. The plural form millions is only used when talking about an unspecified, large quantity (for example, millions of people).
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