on holiday vs on holidays (2025)

Hello,

I'm an American in Spain trying to help a Spaniard with his English, but as he's learning British English, there are some things that neither of us knows for sure.

He's writing a brief story about a trip to Germany. I would call the trip a 'vacation,' but I understand that in Britain it's called a 'holiday.' He wrote something like, "Some friends and I went on holidays to Germany." I think "on holiday" sounds better than "on holidays," but not being British, I really have no idea.

Other threads have said that "on holiday" and "on holidays" are both correct, but in different contexts, without a great deal of explanation about why a certain context would require one or the other. If you are British, would you please explain exactly which contexts require (or prefer) singular and which plural? Perhaps with some examples for when each one is preferable?

Thank you very much!

In this context I would be on holiday (singular).

Indeed, I can't think of any context in which I would say I was "on holidays" or "going on holidays".

PS - Welcome to WordReference, econerd

Hello, econerd, and welcome to the forums!

You're absolutely right:
"Some friends and I went on holidays to Germany."
"Some friends and I went on holiday to Germany."

We might say 'on holidays' referring to more than one vacation: On Spanish holidays in the 70s, I used to love reclining on the beach.

Hello,

I say 'When I was on holiday in Cancun I caught swine fever', and 'Don't ring me for the next two weeks - I'll be on my holidays'.

Rover

I think we are talking about the BrE use of the word holiday.

In the holidays I usually go to Brighton. (I live there for the duration of the holidays)
When I am on holiday I usually go to Brighton. (I visit Brighton, length of visit unspecified)

but

I am on my holidays next week so please contact my secretary.

On holy days I always go to church.

grubble said:

I think we are talking about the BrE use of the word holiday.

In the holidays I usually go to Brighton. (I live there for the duration of the holidays)
When I am on holiday I usually go to Brighton. (I visit Brighton, length of visit unspecified)

but

I am on my holidays next week so please contact my secretary.

On holy days I always go to church.

Click to expand...

So You would say:
"The mundane task of setting the table can be fun in the holidays." Yes? (I agree with this one as well.)

However, I have found this one in the Oxford dictionary:
"The mundane task of setting the table can be fun at holidays."

I want to formulate it for myself:
So far I thought we can say :
A)"In the holidays"
or
B)"On holiday"

Except the one we say "I am on my holidays next week"

'I had good holidays' means you had more than one holiday. If you went to the Lake District every summer, you can say, 'As a child, I had good holidays in the Lake District.'

You can also use the plural to refer to the non-term time in a school context, if you see what I mean: Easter holidays, summer holidays, and say things like, 'I'm not doing much over/during the summer holidays.'

“I'm on holidays. I'm from England,” she said. “Hackney. Do you know Hackney?” he cried at the top of his voice. “I'm from Nottingham. My dad's Irish.” “So you're his cousin. I say, have you any more cousins like that?
https://books.google.com.tw/books?id=WVnfQgj1_V4C&pg=PT104&dq=%22I%27m+on+holidays%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjuzfOJyKz5AhUJmVYBHTbOCw0Q6AF6BAgKEAI#v=onepage&q=%22I'm%20on%20holidays%22&f=false

The phrase "on holidays" is not totally impossible.
"I'm on holidays" - Google Search

It’s not colloquial. Don’t use it.

‘I’m on my holidays’ is fine to this BE speaker.

I'm on holiday
I'm on my holidays
I'm on holidays

While "I'm on holidays" is "not impossible"*, it does sound odd and unidiomatic. I've never heard anyone say that.

* As you know, @sitifan, nothing is impossible when you trawl the weird and wonderful world of the internet. Cast your "nets" deep enough and you can dredge up almost anything from the digital depths.