diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/directive_normalizer.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/directive_normalizer.ts
index e6d440c9eb..5ffabda9ac 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/directive_normalizer.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/directive_normalizer.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import {
   HtmlAttrAst,
   HtmlAst,
   HtmlCommentAst,
+  HtmlExpansionAst,
+  HtmlExpansionCaseAst,
   htmlVisitAll
 } from './html_ast';
 import {HtmlParser} from './html_parser';
@@ -158,4 +160,7 @@ class TemplatePreparseVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
   visitComment(ast: HtmlCommentAst, context: any): any { return null; }
   visitAttr(ast: HtmlAttrAst, context: any): any { return null; }
   visitText(ast: HtmlTextAst, context: any): any { return null; }
+  visitExpansion(ast: HtmlExpansionAst, context: any): any { return null; }
+
+  visitExpansionCase(ast: HtmlExpansionCaseAst, context: any): any { return null; }
 }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_ast.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_ast.ts
index d1f18b47df..6da9687043 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_ast.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_ast.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,24 @@ export class HtmlTextAst implements HtmlAst {
   visit(visitor: HtmlAstVisitor, context: any): any { return visitor.visitText(this, context); }
 }
 
+export class HtmlExpansionAst implements HtmlAst {
+  constructor(public switchValue: string, public type: string, public cases: HtmlExpansionCaseAst[],
+              public sourceSpan: ParseSourceSpan, public switchValueSourceSpan: ParseSourceSpan) {}
+  visit(visitor: HtmlAstVisitor, context: any): any {
+    return visitor.visitExpansion(this, context);
+  }
+}
+
+export class HtmlExpansionCaseAst implements HtmlAst {
+  constructor(public value: string, public expression: HtmlAst[],
+              public sourceSpan: ParseSourceSpan, public valueSourceSpan: ParseSourceSpan,
+              public expSourceSpan: ParseSourceSpan) {}
+
+  visit(visitor: HtmlAstVisitor, context: any): any {
+    return visitor.visitExpansionCase(this, context);
+  }
+}
+
 export class HtmlAttrAst implements HtmlAst {
   constructor(public name: string, public value: string, public sourceSpan: ParseSourceSpan) {}
   visit(visitor: HtmlAstVisitor, context: any): any { return visitor.visitAttr(this, context); }
@@ -34,6 +52,8 @@ export interface HtmlAstVisitor {
   visitAttr(ast: HtmlAttrAst, context: any): any;
   visitText(ast: HtmlTextAst, context: any): any;
   visitComment(ast: HtmlCommentAst, context: any): any;
+  visitExpansion(ast: HtmlExpansionAst, context: any): any;
+  visitExpansionCase(ast: HtmlExpansionCaseAst, context: any): any;
 }
 
 export function htmlVisitAll(visitor: HtmlAstVisitor, asts: HtmlAst[], context: any = null): any[] {
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/legacy_template.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/legacy_template.ts
index 6adbf78a4a..d26b9e8ac1 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/legacy_template.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/legacy_template.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ import {
   HtmlElementAst,
   HtmlTextAst,
   HtmlCommentAst,
+  HtmlExpansionAst,
+  HtmlExpansionCaseAst,
   HtmlAst
 } from './html_ast';
 import {HtmlParser, HtmlParseTreeResult} from './html_parser';
@@ -84,6 +86,13 @@ export class LegacyHtmlAstTransformer implements HtmlAstVisitor {
 
   visitText(ast: HtmlTextAst, context: any): HtmlTextAst { return ast; }
 
+  visitExpansion(ast: HtmlExpansionAst, context: any): any {
+    let cases = ast.cases.map(c => c.visit(this, null));
+    return new HtmlExpansionAst(ast.switchValue, ast.type, cases, ast.sourceSpan);
+  }
+
+  visitExpansionCase(ast: HtmlExpansionCaseAst, context: any): any { return ast; }
+
   private _rewriteLongSyntax(ast: HtmlAttrAst): HtmlAttrAst {
     let m = RegExpWrapper.firstMatch(LONG_SYNTAX_REGEXP, ast.name);
     let attrName = ast.name;
@@ -211,9 +220,10 @@ export class LegacyHtmlAstTransformer implements HtmlAstVisitor {
 
 @Injectable()
 export class LegacyHtmlParser extends HtmlParser {
-  parse(sourceContent: string, sourceUrl: string): HtmlParseTreeResult {
+  parse(sourceContent: string, sourceUrl: string,
+        parseExpansionForms: boolean = false): HtmlParseTreeResult {
     let transformer = new LegacyHtmlAstTransformer();
-    let htmlParseTreeResult = super.parse(sourceContent, sourceUrl);
+    let htmlParseTreeResult = super.parse(sourceContent, sourceUrl, parseExpansionForms);
 
     let rootNodes = htmlParseTreeResult.rootNodes.map(node => node.visit(transformer, null));
 
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
index 1c08e15894..1c332773f3 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ import {
   HtmlAttrAst,
   HtmlTextAst,
   HtmlCommentAst,
+  HtmlExpansionAst,
+  HtmlExpansionCaseAst,
   htmlVisitAll
 } from './html_ast';
 
@@ -268,7 +270,7 @@ class TemplateParseVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
 
   visitComment(ast: HtmlCommentAst, context: any): any { return null; }
 
-  visitElement(element: HtmlElementAst, parent: ElementContext): any {
+  visitElement(element: HtmlElementAst, component: ElementContext): any {
     var nodeName = element.name;
     var preparsedElement = preparseElement(element);
     if (preparsedElement.type === PreparsedElementType.SCRIPT ||
@@ -770,6 +772,9 @@ class NonBindableVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
     var ngContentIndex = parent.findNgContentIndex(TEXT_CSS_SELECTOR);
     return new TextAst(ast.value, ngContentIndex, ast.sourceSpan);
   }
+  visitExpansion(ast: HtmlExpansionAst, context: any): any { return ast; }
+
+  visitExpansionCase(ast: HtmlExpansionCaseAst, context: any): any { return ast; }
 }
 
 class BoundElementOrDirectiveProperty {
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/expander.ts b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/expander.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6a27dd6373
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/expander.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+import {
+  HtmlAst,
+  HtmlAstVisitor,
+  HtmlElementAst,
+  HtmlAttrAst,
+  HtmlTextAst,
+  HtmlCommentAst,
+  HtmlExpansionAst,
+  HtmlExpansionCaseAst,
+  htmlVisitAll
+} from 'angular2/src/compiler/html_ast';
+
+import {BaseException} from 'angular2/src/facade/exceptions';
+
+/**
+ * Expands special forms into elements.
+ *
+ * For example,
+ *
+ * ```
+ * { messages.length, plural,
+ *   =0 {zero}
+ *   =1 {one}
+ *   =other {more than one}
+ * }
+ * ```
+ *
+ * will be expanded into
+ *
+ * ```
+ * <ul [ngPlural]="messages.length">
+ *   <template [ngPluralCase]="0"><li i18n="plural_0">zero</li></template>
+ *   <template [ngPluralCase]="1"><li i18n="plural_1">one</li></template>
+ *   <template [ngPluralCase]="other"><li i18n="plural_other">more than one</li></template>
+ * </ul>
+ * ```
+ */
+export class Expander implements HtmlAstVisitor {
+  constructor() {}
+
+  visitElement(ast: HtmlElementAst, context: any): any {
+    return new HtmlElementAst(ast.name, ast.attrs, htmlVisitAll(this, ast.children), ast.sourceSpan,
+                              ast.startSourceSpan, ast.endSourceSpan);
+  }
+
+  visitAttr(ast: HtmlAttrAst, context: any): any { return ast; }
+
+  visitText(ast: HtmlTextAst, context: any): any { return ast; }
+
+  visitComment(ast: HtmlCommentAst, context: any): any { return ast; }
+
+  visitExpansion(ast: HtmlExpansionAst, context: any): any {
+    return ast.type == "plural" ? _expandPluralForm(ast) : _expandDefaultForm(ast);
+  }
+
+  visitExpansionCase(ast: HtmlExpansionCaseAst, context: any): any {
+    throw new BaseException("Should not be reached");
+  }
+}
+
+function _expandPluralForm(ast: HtmlExpansionAst): HtmlElementAst {
+  let children = ast.cases.map(
+      c => new HtmlElementAst(
+          `template`,
+          [
+            new HtmlAttrAst("[ngPluralCase]", c.value, c.valueSourceSpan),
+          ],
+          [
+            new HtmlElementAst(
+                `li`, [new HtmlAttrAst("i18n", `${ast.type}_${c.value}`, c.valueSourceSpan)],
+                c.expression, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan)
+          ],
+          c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan));
+  let switchAttr = new HtmlAttrAst("[ngPlural]", ast.switchValue, ast.switchValueSourceSpan);
+  return new HtmlElementAst("ul", [switchAttr], children, ast.sourceSpan, ast.sourceSpan,
+                            ast.sourceSpan);
+}
+
+function _expandDefaultForm(ast: HtmlExpansionAst): HtmlElementAst {
+  let children = ast.cases.map(
+      c => new HtmlElementAst(
+          `template`,
+          [
+            new HtmlAttrAst("[ngSwitchWhen]", c.value, c.valueSourceSpan),
+          ],
+          [
+            new HtmlElementAst(
+                `li`, [new HtmlAttrAst("i18n", `${ast.type}_${c.value}`, c.valueSourceSpan)],
+                c.expression, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan)
+          ],
+          c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan, c.sourceSpan));
+  let switchAttr = new HtmlAttrAst("[ngSwitch]", ast.switchValue, ast.switchValueSourceSpan);
+  return new HtmlElementAst("ul", [switchAttr], children, ast.sourceSpan, ast.sourceSpan,
+                            ast.sourceSpan);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/i18n_html_parser.ts b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/i18n_html_parser.ts
index a009192df8..23b09735a0 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/i18n_html_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/i18n_html_parser.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ import {
   HtmlAttrAst,
   HtmlTextAst,
   HtmlCommentAst,
+  HtmlExpansionAst,
+  HtmlExpansionCaseAst,
   htmlVisitAll
 } from 'angular2/src/compiler/html_ast';
 import {ListWrapper, StringMapWrapper} from 'angular2/src/facade/collection';
@@ -14,6 +16,7 @@ import {RegExpWrapper, NumberWrapper, isPresent} from 'angular2/src/facade/lang'
 import {BaseException} from 'angular2/src/facade/exceptions';
 import {Parser} from 'angular2/src/compiler/expression_parser/parser';
 import {Message, id} from './message';
+import {Expander} from './expander';
 import {
   messageFromAttribute,
   I18nError,
@@ -119,19 +122,25 @@ export class I18nHtmlParser implements HtmlParser {
   constructor(private _htmlParser: HtmlParser, private _parser: Parser,
               private _messagesContent: string, private _messages: {[key: string]: HtmlAst[]}) {}
 
-  parse(sourceContent: string, sourceUrl: string): HtmlParseTreeResult {
+  parse(sourceContent: string, sourceUrl: string,
+        parseExpansionForms: boolean = false): HtmlParseTreeResult {
     this.errors = [];
 
-    let res = this._htmlParser.parse(sourceContent, sourceUrl);
+    let res = this._htmlParser.parse(sourceContent, sourceUrl, parseExpansionForms);
     if (res.errors.length > 0) {
       return res;
     } else {
-      let nodes = this._recurse(res.rootNodes);
+      let nodes = this._recurse(this._expandNodes(res.rootNodes));
       return this.errors.length > 0 ? new HtmlParseTreeResult([], this.errors) :
                                       new HtmlParseTreeResult(nodes, []);
     }
   }
 
+  private _expandNodes(nodes: HtmlAst[]): HtmlAst[] {
+    let e = new Expander();
+    return htmlVisitAll(e, nodes);
+  }
+
   private _processI18nPart(p: Part): HtmlAst[] {
     try {
       return p.hasI18n ? this._mergeI18Part(p) : this._recurseIntoI18nPart(p);
@@ -360,5 +369,9 @@ class _CreateNodeMapping implements HtmlAstVisitor {
     return null;
   }
 
+  visitExpansion(ast: HtmlExpansionAst, context: any): any { return null; }
+
+  visitExpansionCase(ast: HtmlExpansionCaseAst, context: any): any { return null; }
+
   visitComment(ast: HtmlCommentAst, context: any): any { return ""; }
 }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor.ts b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor.ts
index a923aae4ac..7da4ee0f79 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/message_extractor.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {isPresent, isBlank} from 'angular2/src/facade/lang';
 import {StringMapWrapper} from 'angular2/src/facade/collection';
 import {Parser} from 'angular2/src/compiler/expression_parser/parser';
 import {Message, id} from './message';
+import {Expander} from './expander';
 import {
   I18nError,
   Part,
@@ -121,15 +122,20 @@ export class MessageExtractor {
     this.messages = [];
     this.errors = [];
 
-    let res = this._htmlParser.parse(template, sourceUrl);
+    let res = this._htmlParser.parse(template, sourceUrl, true);
     if (res.errors.length > 0) {
       return new ExtractionResult([], res.errors);
     } else {
-      this._recurse(res.rootNodes);
+      this._recurse(this._expandNodes(res.rootNodes));
       return new ExtractionResult(this.messages, this.errors);
     }
   }
 
+  private _expandNodes(nodes: HtmlAst[]): HtmlAst[] {
+    let e = new Expander();
+    return htmlVisitAll(e, nodes);
+  }
+
   private _extractMessagesFromPart(p: Part): void {
     if (p.hasI18n) {
       this.messages.push(p.createMessage(this._parser));
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/shared.ts b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/shared.ts
index d1ebd8a7a2..d46798f75d 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/i18n/shared.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/i18n/shared.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import {
   HtmlAttrAst,
   HtmlTextAst,
   HtmlCommentAst,
+  HtmlExpansionAst,
+  HtmlExpansionCaseAst,
   htmlVisitAll
 } from 'angular2/src/compiler/html_ast';
 import {isPresent, isBlank, StringWrapper} from 'angular2/src/facade/lang';
@@ -179,6 +181,10 @@ class _StringifyVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
 
   visitComment(ast: HtmlCommentAst, context: any): any { return ""; }
 
+  visitExpansion(ast: HtmlExpansionAst, context: any): any { return null; }
+
+  visitExpansionCase(ast: HtmlExpansionCaseAst, context: any): any { return null; }
+
   private _join(strs: string[], str: string): string {
     return strs.filter(s => s.length > 0).join(str);
   }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/html_ast_spec_utils.ts b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/html_ast_spec_utils.ts
index a59476917f..af58c224f6 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/html_ast_spec_utils.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/html_ast_spec_utils.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import {
   HtmlAttrAst,
   HtmlTextAst,
   HtmlCommentAst,
+  HtmlExpansionAst,
+  HtmlExpansionCaseAst,
   htmlVisitAll
 } from 'angular2/src/compiler/html_ast';
 import {ParseError, ParseLocation} from 'angular2/src/compiler/parse_util';
@@ -70,6 +72,19 @@ class _Humanizer implements HtmlAstVisitor {
     return null;
   }
 
+  visitExpansion(ast: HtmlExpansionAst, context: any): any {
+    var res = this._appendContext(ast, [HtmlExpansionAst, ast.switchValue, ast.type]);
+    this.result.push(res);
+    htmlVisitAll(this, ast.cases);
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  visitExpansionCase(ast: HtmlExpansionCaseAst, context: any): any {
+    var res = this._appendContext(ast, [HtmlExpansionCaseAst, ast.value]);
+    this.result.push(res);
+    return null;
+  }
+
   private _appendContext(ast: HtmlAst, input: any[]): any[] {
     if (!this.includeSourceSpan) return input;
     input.push(ast.sourceSpan.toString());
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/i18n/i18n_html_parser_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/i18n/i18n_html_parser_spec.ts
index 68c505fc57..65ebe42450 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/i18n/i18n_html_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/i18n/i18n_html_parser_spec.ts
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ export function main() {
       let res = deserializeXmb(`<message-bundle>${msgs}</message-bundle>`, 'someUrl');
 
       return new I18nHtmlParser(htmlParser, parser, res.content, res.messages)
-          .parse(template, "someurl");
+          .parse(template, "someurl", true);
     }
 
     it("should delegate to the provided parser when no i18n", () => {
@@ -188,6 +188,82 @@ export function main() {
       expect(res[1].sourceSpan.start.offset).toEqual(10);
     });
 
+    it("should handle the plural special form", () => {
+      let translations: {[key: string]: string} = {};
+      translations[id(new Message('zero<ph name="e1">bold</ph>', "plural_0", null))] =
+          'ZERO<ph name="e1">BOLD</ph>';
+
+      let res = parse(`{messages.length, plural,=0 {zero<b>bold</b>}}`, translations);
+
+      expect(humanizeDom(res))
+          .toEqual([
+            [HtmlElementAst, 'ul', 0],
+            [HtmlAttrAst, '[ngPlural]', 'messages.length'],
+            [HtmlElementAst, 'template', 1],
+            [HtmlAttrAst, '[ngPluralCase]', '0'],
+            [HtmlElementAst, 'li', 2],
+            [HtmlTextAst, 'ZERO', 3],
+            [HtmlElementAst, 'b', 3],
+            [HtmlTextAst, 'BOLD', 4]
+          ]);
+    });
+
+    it("should correctly set source code positions", () => {
+      let translations: {[key: string]: string} = {};
+      translations[id(new Message('<ph name="e0">bold</ph>', "plural_0", null))] =
+          '<ph name="e0">BOLD</ph>';
+
+      let nodes = parse(`{messages.length, plural,=0 {<b>bold</b>}}`, translations).rootNodes;
+
+      let ul: HtmlElementAst = <HtmlElementAst>nodes[0];
+
+      expect(ul.sourceSpan.start.col).toEqual(0);
+      expect(ul.sourceSpan.end.col).toEqual(42);
+
+      expect(ul.startSourceSpan.start.col).toEqual(0);
+      expect(ul.startSourceSpan.end.col).toEqual(42);
+
+      expect(ul.endSourceSpan.start.col).toEqual(0);
+      expect(ul.endSourceSpan.end.col).toEqual(42);
+
+      let switchExp = ul.attrs[0];
+      expect(switchExp.sourceSpan.start.col).toEqual(1);
+      expect(switchExp.sourceSpan.end.col).toEqual(16);
+
+      let template: HtmlElementAst = <HtmlElementAst>ul.children[0];
+      expect(template.sourceSpan.start.col).toEqual(26);
+      expect(template.sourceSpan.end.col).toEqual(41);
+
+      let switchCheck = template.attrs[0];
+      expect(switchCheck.sourceSpan.start.col).toEqual(26);
+      expect(switchCheck.sourceSpan.end.col).toEqual(28);
+
+      let li: HtmlElementAst = <HtmlElementAst>template.children[0];
+      expect(li.sourceSpan.start.col).toEqual(26);
+      expect(li.sourceSpan.end.col).toEqual(41);
+
+      let b: HtmlElementAst = <HtmlElementAst>li.children[0];
+      expect(b.sourceSpan.start.col).toEqual(29);
+      expect(b.sourceSpan.end.col).toEqual(32);
+    });
+
+    it("should handle other special forms", () => {
+      let translations: {[key: string]: string} = {};
+      translations[id(new Message('m', "gender_male", null))] = 'M';
+
+      let res = parse(`{person.gender, gender,=male {m}}`, translations);
+
+      expect(humanizeDom(res))
+          .toEqual([
+            [HtmlElementAst, 'ul', 0],
+            [HtmlAttrAst, '[ngSwitch]', 'person.gender'],
+            [HtmlElementAst, 'template', 1],
+            [HtmlAttrAst, '[ngSwitchWhen]', 'male'],
+            [HtmlElementAst, 'li', 2],
+            [HtmlTextAst, 'M', 3],
+          ]);
+    });
+
     describe("errors", () => {
       it("should error when giving an invalid template", () => {
         expect(humanizeErrors(parse("<a>a</b>", {}).errors))
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_extractor_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_extractor_spec.ts
index f7f8541ad5..430b624161 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_extractor_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/i18n/message_extractor_spec.ts
@@ -176,6 +176,24 @@ export function main() {
           ]);
     });
 
+    it("should extract messages from special forms", () => {
+      let res = extractor.extract(`
+        <div>
+          {messages.length, plural,
+             =0 {You have <b>no</b> messages}
+             =1 {You have one message}
+          }
+        </div>
+      `,
+                                  "someurl");
+
+      expect(res.messages)
+          .toEqual([
+            new Message('You have <ph name="e1">no</ph> messages', "plural_0", null),
+            new Message('You have one message', "plural_1", null)
+          ]);
+    });
+
     it("should remove duplicate messages", () => {
       let res = extractor.extract(`
          <!-- i18n: meaning|desc1 -->message<!-- /i18n -->