other
adj.used to talk about a person or thing that is different from the one you already mentioned. You use it when there are more things in a group or a second choice available.
adj.referring to a person or thing that is distinct from one already mentioned or implied. Often used to indicate the remaining part of a set or an alternative category.
“I have one red pen and three other pens.”
“If this hotel is full, we will have to look for other places to stay in the city.”
“While some researchers focused on the primary symptoms, other teams investigated the long-term psychological effects on the patient population.”
Typically placed before a plural countable noun or an uncountable noun. When used with a singular countable noun, it usually requires a determiner like 'the', 'my', or 'another'.
other vs another — Another is used with singular countable nouns, while other is used with plural or uncountable nouns.
When referring to a single alternative item, 'another' is used; 'other' requires a plural noun or a determiner like 'the other'.
For Mandarin speakers Mandarin lacks a distinction between singular and plural forms for 'other'. This causes speakers to use 'other' with singular nouns where 'another' is required, or to omit the plural marker /s/ in the sequence 'other + noun', as Mandarin uses 另外 (lìngwài) or 其他 (qítā) regardless of the count.
Mandarin uses the verb 换 (huàn) for 'to change to another', which often leads to the redundant or incorrect phrase 'change other' instead of 'change to another' or 'try the other one'.
For Japanese speakers Japanese lacks the dental fricative /ð/, leading speakers to substitute the alveolar plosive /d/ or /z/. This results in /azā/ or /adā/ instead of /ʌðə/.
Japanese does not distinguish between singular 'another' and plural 'other' using specific prefixes, as 'hoka no' (他の) applies to both. This leads to the omission of the plural 's' on the following noun or the misuse of 'other' with singular nouns where 'another' is required.