the plural form of the word Chinese

[GoodTaste]

In the following four sentences, (1), (2) and (3) are okay. But is (4) okay as well? It seems that the word Chinese can be either single or plural.

(1) Some American people say - exercise everyday is important for your health.
(2) Some Americans say - exercise everyday is important for your health.
(3) Some Chinese people say - exercise everyday is important for your health.
(4) Some Chinese say - exercise everyday is important for your health.

 

[jutfrank]

It's okay to me but I don't teach people to use it. Say some Chinese people.

Write every day as two separate words.

 

[SoothingDave]

Chinese is an adjective to me, not a noun.

 

[Tdol]

#4 sounds fine to me- I might not have used it before living in Asia, but it's commonplace to me now.

 

[GoodTaste]

Chinese is an adjective to me, not a noun.

Why does Americans work?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Why does Americans work?

I doubt there are any ironclad rules. We all learned English one word at a time.

In general, we only pluralize with an s if it won't add another syllable. Americans is the plural of American. Singular and plural are both three syllables. Likewise, we also say Germans and Canadians.

But we don't generally add a syllable to pluralize nationalities. We would never say Chineses (three syllables) or Japaneses (four syllables). Likewise, we wouldn't call people Frenches or Dutches or Englishes.

Instead, it sounds more natural to say, for instance, "some Chinese people say" and "some French people say" — or to leave out people, as in "some Chinese say," and "some French say."

 

[Tdol]

Why does Americans work?

You have reached a level of English where you see that universal rules are rare. Generally, nationalities ending -an can form a plural. ;-)