diff --git a/src/utils.js b/src/utils.js
index 1745330..b07dcee 100644
--- a/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/utils.js
@@ -88,7 +88,8 @@ export const templater = (
         const regex = new RegExp(pattern, 'gmi');
         if (regex.test(templatePortion)) matched = data[prop];
       }
-      return matched || templatePortion;
+      if (typeof matched === 'undefined') return templatePortion;
+      return matched;
     });
 
   // if there is a React element, return as array
diff --git a/tests/utils.test.js b/tests/utils.test.js
index 0f94511..1fb85a7 100644
--- a/tests/utils.test.js
+++ b/tests/utils.test.js
@@ -90,7 +90,15 @@ describe('locale utils', () => {
       const after = ['Hello this is a ', <Comp /> , ' translation'];
       const result = utils.templater(before, data);
       expect(result).toEqual(after);
-    })
+    });
+
+    it('should handle falsy data values (except undefined)', () => {
+      const data = { zero: 0, empty: '' };
+      const before = 'Number ${zero}, empty ${empty}';
+      const after = 'Number 0, empty ';
+      const result = utils.templater(before, data);
+      expect(result).toEqual(after);
+    });
   });
   
   describe('getIndexForLanguageCode', () => {