Most of the time, daños means “damage”, in singular. What, then, is “damages” in Spanish? Usually something like indemnizaciones por daños y perjuicios, literally, “compensation for loss and damage”, which is what “damages” means in English. So:
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- daño/s = damage
- indemnizaciones por daños y perjuicios = “damages” or “compensation for loss and damage” but not “compensation for loss and damages“
Definition of damage and damages
Note that the adjective of “damages” can be singular or plural (number 3).
- damages, n. pl. Money claimed by, or ordered to be paid to, a person as compensation for loss or injury “the plaintiff seeks $8,000 in damages from the defendant”. — damage,adj.
- damage, n. Loss or injury to person or property “actionable damage resulting from negligence”.
- damage, adj. Of or relating to monetary compensation for loss or injury to a person or property “a damage claim”, “a damage award”. — Also termed damages “a damages claim”.
Source: Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th edition (West Group, 2004), Bryan A. Garner (ed.)
Examples in English
For some useful examples on the difference between “damage” and “damages”, see this page.
It’s me again, this time on the debatable title of this entry. Though there is a UK-based German law blogger who traditionally refuses to take the point, damage as harm does ‘pluralise’ as physical vs. monetary ‘damages’ in US-American and Canadian law.and is invariably used with that meaning in Microsof’s standard, lawyer-drafted or ‘engrossed’ contracts https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Patch-Compliance-Reporting-95fa01f7
Yes, you have been the busy commenter. Thank you!
I think comes down to trying to use terms correctly. Easy in this case because all the sources/experts I could find say the same thing, i.e., you should make a distinction between “damage” and “damages”.
I understand that people don’t always make this distinction in practice. But hey, some people don’t the diferentiate between “you’re” and “your”. Doesn’t mean we should start not making a distinction. Then again, I guess you can pluralise (harm) damage if the context leaves no doubt.
In any case, when it comes to what we write, I think we can better serve our clients by being precise and making this distinction in our translations.