diff --git a/src/sage/misc/sage_timeit.py b/src/sage/misc/sage_timeit.py
index f6b33cacad9..9ff405e3127 100644
--- a/src/sage/misc/sage_timeit.py
+++ b/src/sage/misc/sage_timeit.py
@@ -89,9 +89,13 @@ def __repr__(self):
             sage: from sage.misc.sage_timeit import SageTimeitResult
             sage: stats = (1, 2, int(3), pi, 'ns')
             sage: SageTimeitResult(stats)           #indirect doctest
-            1 loops, best of 2: 3.14 ns per loop
+            1 loop, best of 2: 3.14 ns per loop
         """
-        s =  u"%d loops, best of %d: %.*g %s per loop" % self.stats
+        if self.stats[0] > 1:
+            s =  u"%d loops, best of %d: %.*g %s per loop" % self.stats
+        else:
+            s =  u"%d loop, best of %d: %.*g %s per loop" % self.stats
+
         if isinstance(s, str):
             return s
         return s.encode("utf-8")
@@ -269,3 +273,4 @@ def sage_timeit(stmt, globals_dict=None, preparse=None, number=0, repeat=3, prec
         order = 3
     stats = (number, repeat, precision, best * scaling[order], units[order])
     return SageTimeitResult(stats,series=series)
+