diff --git a/__tests__/useTranslation.test.js b/__tests__/useTranslation.test.js
index 5c6c05e1..e2466d5e 100644
--- a/__tests__/useTranslation.test.js
+++ b/__tests__/useTranslation.test.js
@@ -1170,6 +1170,58 @@ describe('useTranslation', () => {
 
       const expected = 'This is a default translation with a count: 3'
 
+      const { container } = render(
+        <I18nProvider lang="en" namespaces={{}}>
+          <Inner />
+        </I18nProvider>
+      )
+      expect(container.textContent).toBe(expected)
+    })
+    test('should allow default object translation with interpolation', () => {
+      const Inner = () => {
+        const { t } = useTranslation()
+        const text = t(
+          'ns:no-translation',
+          { count: 3 },
+          {
+            default: {
+              example: 'This is a default translation with a count: {{count}}'
+            },
+            returnObjects: true,
+            fallback: 'ns:no-translation2',
+          }
+        )
+        return <>{text.example}</>
+      }
+
+      const expected = 'This is a default translation with a count: 3'
+
+      const { container } = render(
+        <I18nProvider lang="en" namespaces={{}}>
+          <Inner />
+        </I18nProvider>
+      )
+      expect(container.textContent).toBe(expected)
+    })
+    test('should allow default array translation with interpolation', () => {
+      const Inner = () => {
+        const { t } = useTranslation()
+        const text = t(
+          'ns:no-translation',
+          { count: 3 },
+          {
+            default: [
+              'This is a default translation with a count: {{count}}'
+            ],
+            returnObjects: true,
+            fallback: 'ns:no-translation2',
+          }
+        )
+        return <>{text[0]}</>
+      }
+
+      const expected = 'This is a default translation with a count: 3'
+
       const { container } = render(
         <I18nProvider lang="en" namespaces={{}}>
           <Inner />
diff --git a/src/Trans.tsx b/src/Trans.tsx
index 893c763f..21be3c50 100644
--- a/src/Trans.tsx
+++ b/src/Trans.tsx
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export default function Trans({
    * Memoize the transformation
    */
   const result = useMemo(() => {
-    const text = t(i18nKey, values, { fallback, default: defaultTrans })
+    const text = t<string>(i18nKey, values, { fallback, default: defaultTrans })
 
     if (!components || components.length === 0) return text
 
diff --git a/src/index.tsx b/src/index.tsx
index a8116b28..efcf0311 100644
--- a/src/index.tsx
+++ b/src/index.tsx
@@ -5,13 +5,22 @@ export interface TranslationQuery {
   [name: string]: any
 }
 
-export type Translate = <T = string>(
+
+export interface NestedStringObject {
+  [key:string]: string | NestedStringObject | NestedStringArray
+}
+type ValueOrArray<T> = T | ValueOrArray<T>[];
+type NestedStringArray = ValueOrArray<string | NestedStringObject>;
+
+export type TranslateValue = string | NestedStringObject | NestedStringArray
+
+export type Translate = <T extends TranslateValue = string>(
   i18nKey: string | TemplateStringsArray,
   query?: TranslationQuery | null,
   options?: {
     returnObjects?: boolean
     fallback?: string | string[]
-    default?: string
+    default?: T | string
     ns?: string
   }
 ) => T
diff --git a/src/transCore.tsx b/src/transCore.tsx
index 8ff3a308..0d7ac290 100644
--- a/src/transCore.tsx
+++ b/src/transCore.tsx
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {
   I18nDictionary,
   LoaderConfig,
   LoggerProps,
+  TranslateValue,
   TranslationQuery,
 } from '.'
 import { Translate } from './index'
@@ -37,6 +38,21 @@ export default function transCore({
     allowEmptyStrings = true,
   } = config
 
+  const interpolateUnknown = (value: TranslateValue, query?: TranslationQuery | null): TranslateValue => {
+    if (Array.isArray(value)) {
+      return value.map(val => interpolateUnknown(val, query));
+    }
+    if (value instanceof Object) {
+      return objectInterpolation({
+        obj: value as Record<string, unknown>,
+        query,
+        config,
+        lang,
+      })
+    }
+    return interpolation({ text: value as string, query, config, lang })
+  }
+
   const t: Translate = (key = '', query, options) => {
     const k = Array.isArray(key) ? key[0] : key
     const { nsSeparator = ':', loggerEnvironment = 'browser' } = config
@@ -81,8 +97,8 @@ export default function transCore({
       }
     }
 
-    if (empty && options?.default && fallbacks?.length == 0) {
-      return interpolation({ text: options?.default, query, config, lang })
+    if (empty && options?.default && !fallbacks?.length) {
+      return interpolateUnknown(options.default, query)
     }
 
     // no need to try interpolation
@@ -90,18 +106,9 @@ export default function transCore({
       return k
     }
 
-    if (value instanceof Object) {
-      return objectInterpolation({
-        obj: value as Record<string, unknown>,
-        query,
-        config,
-        lang,
-      })
-    }
-
     // this can return an empty string if either value was already empty
     // or it contained only an interpolation (e.g. "{{name}}") and the query param was empty
-    return interpolation({ text: value as string, query, config, lang })
+    return interpolateUnknown(value, query)
   }
 
   return t
@@ -117,7 +124,7 @@ function getDicValue(
   options: { returnObjects?: boolean; fallback?: string | string[] } = {
     returnObjects: false,
   }
-): string | undefined | object {
+): TranslateValue | undefined {
   const { keySeparator = '.' } = config || {}
   const keyParts = keySeparator ? key.split(keySeparator) : [key]
 
@@ -141,7 +148,7 @@ function getDicValue(
     typeof value === 'string' ||
     ((value as unknown) instanceof Object && options.returnObjects)
   ) {
-    return value
+    return value as TranslateValue
   }
 
   return undefined
@@ -203,8 +210,6 @@ function interpolation({
   const regexEnd =
     suffix === '' ? '' : `(?:[\\s,]+([\\w-]*))?\\s*${escapeRegex(suffix)}`
   return Object.keys(query).reduce((all, varKey) => {
-    if (typeof all !== 'string') return all
-
     const regex = new RegExp(
       `${escapeRegex(prefix)}\\s*${varKey}${regexEnd}`,
       'gm'
@@ -232,7 +237,6 @@ function objectInterpolation({
   lang?: string
 }): any {
   if (!query || Object.keys(query).length === 0) return obj
-
   Object.keys(obj).forEach((key) => {
     if (obj[key] instanceof Object)
       objectInterpolation({
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 015edc2b..4db9041a 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -5537,4 +5537,4 @@ yargs@^16.2.0:
     require-directory "^2.1.1"
     string-width "^4.2.0"
     y18n "^5.0.5"
-    yargs-parser "^20.2.2"
+    yargs-parser "^20.2.2"
\ No newline at end of file