diff --git a/src/common/tuklib_gettext.h b/src/common/tuklib_gettext.h
index 24852134..ff189040 100644
--- a/src/common/tuklib_gettext.h
+++ b/src/common/tuklib_gettext.h
@@ -33,12 +33,12 @@
 			textdomain(package); \
 		} while (0)
 #	define _(msgid) gettext(msgid)
-#	define N_(msgid1, msgid2, n) ngettext(msgid1, msgid2, n)
 #else
 #	define tuklib_gettext_init(package, localedir) \
 		setlocale(LC_ALL, "")
 #	define _(msgid) (msgid)
-#	define N_(msgid1, msgid2, n) ((n) == 1 ? (msgid1) : (msgid2))
+#	define ngettext(msgid1, msgid2, n) ((n) == 1 ? (msgid1) : (msgid2))
 #endif
+#define N_(msgid) msgid
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/xz/list.c b/src/xz/list.c
index ad3c8720..e136cc2e 100644
--- a/src/xz/list.c
+++ b/src/xz/list.c
@@ -909,11 +909,11 @@ print_totals_basic(void)
 	// Since we print totals only when there are at least two files,
 	// the English message will always use "%s files". But some other
 	// languages need different forms for different plurals so we
-	// have to translate this with N_().
+	// have to translate this with ngettext().
 	//
 	// TRANSLATORS: %s is an integer. Only the plural form of this
 	// message is used (e.g. "2 files"). Test with "xz -l foo.xz bar.xz".
-	printf(N_("%s file", "%s files\n",
+	printf(ngettext("%s file\n", "%s files\n",
 			totals.files <= ULONG_MAX ? totals.files
 				: (totals.files % 1000000) + 1000000),
 			uint64_to_str(totals.files, 0));