diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/ml_parser/icu_ast_expander.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/ml_parser/icu_ast_expander.ts
index 88745078fa..9826152631 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/src/ml_parser/icu_ast_expander.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/src/ml_parser/icu_ast_expander.ts
@@ -106,6 +106,13 @@ function _expandDefaultForm(ast: html.Expansion, errors: ParseError[]): html.Ele
     const expansionResult = expandNodes(c.expression);
     errors.push(...expansionResult.errors);
 
+    if (c.value === 'other') {
+      // other is the default case when no values match
+      return new html.Element(
+          `template`, [new html.Attribute('ngSwitchDefault', '', c.valueSourceSpan)],
+          expansionResult.nodes, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan);
+    }
+
     return new html.Element(
         `template`, [new html.Attribute('ngSwitchCase', `${c.value}`, c.valueSourceSpan)],
         expansionResult.nodes, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan);
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/ml_parser/icu_ast_expander_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/ml_parser/icu_ast_expander_spec.ts
index e216462e32..2d015f42e3 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/ml_parser/icu_ast_expander_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/ml_parser/icu_ast_expander_spec.ts
@@ -82,14 +82,17 @@ export function main() {
     });
 
     it('should handle other special forms', () => {
-      const res = expand(`{person.gender, gender,=male {m}}`);
+      const res = expand(`{person.gender, select, male {m} other {default}}`);
 
       expect(humanizeNodes(res.nodes)).toEqual([
         [html.Element, 'ng-container', 0],
         [html.Attribute, '[ngSwitch]', 'person.gender'],
         [html.Element, 'template', 1],
-        [html.Attribute, 'ngSwitchCase', '=male'],
+        [html.Attribute, 'ngSwitchCase', 'male'],
         [html.Text, 'm', 2],
+        [html.Element, 'template', 1],
+        [html.Attribute, 'ngSwitchDefault', ''],
+        [html.Text, 'default', 2],
       ]);
     });
 
diff --git a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser/template_parser_spec.ts b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser/template_parser_spec.ts
index 8cb15dee05..c2551f716b 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser/template_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/compiler/test/template_parser/template_parser_spec.ts
@@ -1787,18 +1787,18 @@ The pipe 'test' could not be found ("[ERROR ->]{{a | test}}"): TestComp@0:0`);
             const shortForm = '{ count, plural, =0 {small} many {big} }';
             const expandedForm = '<ng-container [ngPlural]="count">' +
                 '<template ngPluralCase="=0">small</template>' +
-                '<template ngPluralCase="many">big</template>' +
-                '</ng-container>';
+                '<template ngPluralCase="many">big</template>' + i
+            '</ng-container>';
 
             expect(humanizeTplAst(parse(shortForm, [
             ]))).toEqual(humanizeTplAst(parse(expandedForm, [])));
           });
 
-          it('should expand other messages', () => {
-            const shortForm = '{ sex, gender, =f {foo} other {bar} }';
+          it('should expand select messages', () => {
+            const shortForm = '{ sex, select, female {foo} other {bar} }';
             const expandedForm = '<ng-container [ngSwitch]="sex">' +
-                '<template ngSwitchCase="=f">foo</template>' +
-                '<template ngSwitchCase="other">bar</template>' +
+                '<template ngSwitchCase="female">foo</template>' +
+                '<template ngSwitchDefault>bar</template>' +
                 '</ng-container>';
 
             expect(humanizeTplAst(parse(shortForm, [