How do we pronounce the plural form of “kg” in a sentence? [closed]
Could you tell me whether we need to say the first or the second of these?
- I want three kg of carrots.
- I want three kgs of carrots.
Is the first of those two choices the correct way of writing it?
Solution 1:
I want three kg of carrot or I want three kilograms of carrot is correct.
'kg' is the S.I unit of mass and just like any other unit, it deserves to be treated the way it is. I've seen many internet articles that mention 'kgs' as the plural of kg, but it's wrong according to the rules of physics. Let me explain this to you:
3 kg = 3 x 1 kg
0.5 kg = 0.5 x 1 kg
Every quantity is best understood as a multiple of 1 unit (1 kg in this case). In this case, there is no question of adding an 's' to 'kg' to make it plural.
None of the other physical units are written in their plural form. When you abbreviate a unit to a symbol (newton==>N, metre/second==> m/s), you never add an 's' to make it plural. N (newton) is never converted in Ns to make it plural. In fact, it would be an anomaly to do so because it would mean newton-second(N s or N.s) which is not the unit of force, but of a whole new quantity called momentum.
When you expand the symbol out to its original name (kg==>kilogram, N==>newton), you have every right to use the rules of English grammar to convert it into its plural form.
For example: kilogram when converted to its plural form would become kilograms, and newton when converted to its plural form would become newtons.
Hope my explanation helped! If you have further queries regarding this topic, please let me know.