"Πού είναι η αστυνομία;"

Translation: Where are the police?

[Igor.79]

Where are the police - sounds odd.
And even though it sounds better with: Where is the police, DL is correct here since the noun 'police' has no singular form. But: where is the police station - it's ok since it's used here as adjective. Had to Google this.

[jaye16]

So, since, as you said, 'police' has no singular form" therefore, it is not odd to any but none native English speakers. We have no choice but to use the correct form but I do agree that this sentence was unnecessary complex and we will not include it in the new tree.
Thanks for your input it helps others understand.

[DemetriosM2]

Hi, I was wondering what the translation would be for "Where is the police officer?" That was my answer, it was judged incorrect by DL, no problem, but it left me wondering.

Secondly, "Where is the police?" was offered to me as a correct solution, and it deserves stating - that's not correct English and I don't feel it should be accepted as an alternative to "where are the police?" I would suggest "where is the policeman", but that sounds too much like my first answer "where is the police officer" that DL said was wrong.

Thank you.

[LaudaMercurium]

"Where is the police?" is perfectly good English here, in California at least; and to me "Where are the police" sounds odd. Police ( in my dialect) is a collective noun like team and is thus singular.

[DemetriosM2]

Sorry Lauda, I beg to differ for a couple of reasons.

The use of "Police" is fundamentally different than "team". Although both may refer to groups of people, "police" is always referred to as a plural noun. "Team", however can be used in the singular e.g. one may say, "Where are the teams", but one would not say "Where are the polices?"

I live near a city where "Where is the police" may be acceptable as part of street talk, but - no offense - imperfect American English.

I referenced information from the following language forum thread: Posts 1-6 cover everything but it is a good discussion.

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/police-is-are-does-do-singular-vs-plural.2139179/

I believe you! - that within certain bodies of people, such as your "dialect", grammatical anomalies may exist and feel normal. That's the heartbeat of language evolution anyway.

For example, in foreign countries we have situations where some natives are proficient in English, yet may have only met a handful of native English speakers. "Where is the Police" may not bother anybody to say there. Let it be.

But I feel it would go too far in this DL example.

It's not about upsetting anybody, it's about maintaining a standard within a scope of acceptable answers, most of which just have to do with rearrangement of words, and keeping the learners sharp in their source language.

Sincere Regards.

[jaye16]

Thank you very much for your complete and insightful explanation.

[jaye16]

That was supposed to have been: "Where is the police department." Where is the police station."

Πού είναι ο αστυνομικός. Where is the policeman?