"He has plates."

Translation: Er hat Teller.

[jscamach]

Teller is singular and plural?

[izygray]

Yes. You must rely on articles, prepositions, verbs, context, etc to determine if it is actually singular or plural (just like similar English words).

[Lisaslavic]

but there was no article [translate he has plates], and die Teller wasn't an option? And Tellern wasn't accepted, so - I'm confused. Is it just the absence of EIN that makes the word Teller plural? If so - when and how is Tellern used?

[Esilou]

Why not "Tellern" as suggested and as I found as the plural of "Teller" in my German dictionary?

[AndreasWitnstein]

The plural of »Teller« is only »Tellern« in the dative:

Singular:
der Teller nominative
des Tellers genitive
dem Teller dative
den Teller accusative

Plural:
die Teller nominative
der Teller genitive
den Tellern dative
die Teller accusative

[Kajah]

Why is "Er hat die Teller" wrong?

[-Herbstzeitlose-]

That'd be "He has the plates".

[JanBednar]

We Wanted to show to the program, that we know : die Teller - PLATES !!!!

[FLGreta]

hey, Sie haben einen slowakischen Namen, schön.

[lewis0923]

I typed "Er hat Platten." It says I am wrong.

[AndreasWitnstein]

Because «Platte« means “platter” — a large flat serving dish.

[FLGreta]

...weil Platten keine Übersetzung des 'plates' ist... Platten wären flache große Teller, die man in die Mitte des Tisches stellt oder auch Bodenbelag könnte damit gemeint werden.

[Lloydinator]

Hello? We're beginners here.

[joedillon]

me too - google translate thinks this is correct

[EvaDickman1]

Teller is not one of the choices.

[mikali157]

So, it is "Er hat einen Teller" for one plate, and "Er hat Teller" for many plates. Is that correct?