Co-operatives

The eighteenth entry is a cooperativa de trabalhadores, and putting it into English forces a choice Portuguese never has to make. Our phrase is « a workers’ co-operative », with the apostrophe standing after the s, and it sits there because the group named has an interest in the thing: the enterprise belongs to the workers. The same shape runs through « a farmers’ market », « a teachers’ union » and « a girls’ school ». Where the plural is irregular the apostrophe moves in front of the s, because that s now belongs to the word itself — « a children’s hospital », « a women’s refuge ». And where the first noun merely classifies instead of owning, English drops the plural and the apostrophe together: « a worker bee », « a student card ». De does all three jobs at once and shows nothing, so a reader arriving from Portuguese hears no difference between them. Two footnotes. Many societies register their name without the mark, so « Workers Co-operative » on a letterhead is a spelling choice and not evidence about grammar. And the bare singular, « a worker co-operative », is ordinary in American writing.