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Typically there is no pluralization in Japanese unless specified. For example:

> この車【くるま】は綺麗【きれい】。  
>  This car is clean. / These cars are clean.

Does スポーツ work in the same way? Considering the romanized form of スポーツ is
_supōtsu_ (sports), which is plural, does the no-plurals rule work backwards?
In this case:

> そのスポーツ が好【す】きです！  
>  I like that sport! / I like those sports!

My guess is that it does, but I want to make sure. Thank you!
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2014-10-04T17:55:09.757
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2015-09-22T14:51:00.700
2015-09-22T14:51:00.700
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question
grammar loanwords plurals sports
Is スポーツ a plural-only word?
Japanese usually doesn't distinguish between singular and plural nouns.

スポーツ is thus both singular and plural insofar as the singular/plural
distinction even makes sense when talking about Japanese.

There are several other words, which have a ツ at the end, like ドーナツ or ピーナッツ,
but only end it a single T. I conjecture that ツ was chosen over ト (as in スポート,
ドーナット or ピーナット), precisely because the plural is frequently encountered in
English.

In any case, スポーツ can be used when you mean a singular sport, e.g.

> クィディッチはハリーポッターの魔法界においての最も人気のあるスポーツである。  
>  Quidditch is the most popular sport in the magic world of Harry Potter.
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2014-10-04T18:45:33.060
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answer