Countable Nouns | Uncountable Nouns | Nouns that can be Countable & Uncountable

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: "pen". We can
count pens. We can have one, two, three or more pens. Here are some more countable nouns:

dog, cat, animal, man, person

bottle, box, litre

coin, note, dollar

cup, plate, fork

table, chair, suitcase, bag

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:

My dog is playing.

My dogs are hungry.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:

A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/the/my/this with it:

I want an orange. (not I want orange.)

Where is my bottle? (not Where is bottle?)

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:

I like oranges.

Bottles can break.

We can use some and any with countable nouns:

I've got some dollars.

Have you got any pens?

We can use a few and many with countable nouns:

I've got a few dollars.

I haven't got many pens.

"People" is countable. "People" is the plural of "person". We can count people:

There is one person here.

There are three people here.

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are substances, concepts etc that we cannot divide into separate elements. We
cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of
milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

music, art, love, happiness

advice, information, news

furniture, luggage

rice, sugar, butter, water

electricity, gas, power

money, currency

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:

This news is very important.

Your luggage looks heavy.

We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an
information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:

a piece of news

a bottle of water

a grain of rice

We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:

I've got some money.

Have you got any rice?

We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:

I've got a little money.

I haven't got much rice.

Uncountable nouns are also called "mass nouns".

Here are some more examples of countable and uncountable nouns:

Countable Uncountable

dollar money

song music

suitcase luggage

table furniture

battery electricity

bottle wine

report information

tip advice

journey travel

job work

view scenery

When you learn a new word, it's a good idea to learn whether it's countable or uncountable.

Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable »

Countable Nouns | Uncountable Nouns | Nouns that can be Countable & Uncountable

Nouns that can be Countable and Uncountable

Sometimes, the same noun can be countable and uncountable, often with a change of meaning.

Countable Uncountable

There are two hairs in my coffee! hair I don't have much hair.

There are two lights in our bedroom. light Close the curtain. There's too much light!

Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise.

There are so many different noises in the city. noise It's difficult to work when there is too much
noise.

Have you got a paper to read? (newspaper)

Hand me those student papers. paper I want to draw a picture. Have you got some paper?

Our house has seven rooms. room Is there room for me to sit here?

We had a great time at the party.

How many times have I told you no? time Have you got time for a coffee?

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's greatest works. work I have no money. I need work!

Drinks (coffee, water, orange juice) are usually uncountable. But if we are thinking of a cup or a glass, we
can say (in a restaurant, for example):

Two teas and one coffee please.

Quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns

Adjectives and adjectival phrases that describe quantity are shown below. Some can only go with
countable nouns (friends, cups, people), and some can only go with uncountable nouns (sugar, tea,
money, advice). The words in the middle column can be used with both countable and uncountable
nouns.

Only with

uncountable nouns With uncountable

and countable nouns Only with

countable nouns

How much? How much? or How many? How many?

a little no/none a few

a bit (of) not any a number (of)

- some (any) several

a great deal of a lot of a large number of

a large amount of plenty of a great number of

- lots of -

+ noun

Note: much and many are used in negative and question forms.

Examples

How much money have you got?

How many cigarettes have you smoked?

There's not much sugar in the cupboard.

There weren't many people at the concert.

They are also used with too, (not) so, and (not) as :There were too many people at the concert - we
couldn't see the band.

It's a problem when there are so many people.

There's not so much work to do this week.

In positive statements, we use a lot of:

Examples

I've got a lot of work this week.

There were a lot of people at the concert.

Countable & Uncountable nouns 1

Countable & Uncountable nouns (1)

Nouns can be countable or uncountable. When you learn a new noun you should make a note of
whether it is countable or uncountable as we use different words with countables and uncountables.

Countable nouns

There is a cat in the garden.

There are some birds in the trees.

For positive sentences we can use a/an or some (with a plural verb form)

There isn’t a dog in the garden.

There aren’t any birds in the tree.

For negatives we can use a/an or any (with a plural verb form).

Is there an orange on the tree?

Are there any chairs in the garden?

How many chairs are there?

In questions we use a/an, any or how many.

Uncountable nouns

There is some milk on the floor.

Uncountable nouns have no plural. The verb form is singular and we use some.

Is there any sugar?

How much wine is there?

In questions we can use any or how much.

Other expressions of quantity

There are a lot of apples on the trees.

There is a lot of snow on the road.

A lot of can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

Bill Gates has much money.

Notice that we don’t usually use ‘much’ or ‘many’ in positive sentences. We use ‘a lot of’.

Bill Gates has a lot of money.

There’s a lot of beer but there isn’t much wine.

There are a lot of carrots but there aren’t many potatoes.

We use not many with countable nouns and not much with uncountable nouns.

Some nouns can be both countable and uncountable, depending on how they are used, and some nouns
are commonly confused. These are covered in another section.
Countable & Uncountable nouns (2)

Some words can be both countable and uncountable depending on how they are used.

Would you like a chocolate?

Would you like some chocolate?

In a box of chocolates, the chocolates are countable and you can take one.

When you have a bar of chocolate the chocolate is uncountable and you can take some.

There are several other nouns that can be both countable and uncountable.

Can I have a glass of water, please?

There’s some broken glass on the pavement.

‘Glass’ is one. Many foodstuffs can be countable or uncountable. Think about the difference between
‘an ice cream’ and ‘some ice cream’ and ‘a coffee’ and ‘some coffee’

‘few/a few’ and ‘little/a little’

We use few and a few with countable nouns and we use little and a little with uncountable nouns.

A few friends are coming round for dinner tonight.

We’ve got a little time before our train leaves. Shall we go to a museum?

A few and a little both mean ‘some’. They have a positive meaning.

I’ve got very few friends here. I feel really lonely.

We’ve got very little time – hurry up or we’ll miss the train.

Few and little both mean ‘almost none’. They have a negative meaning.

Commonly confused words

I’d like an information about train times please

I’d like some information about train times please.

Although ‘information’ is countable in many languages, it is uncountable in English.

Have you had any news from Pete?

I haven’t brought much luggage with me.

Can you give me some advice please?

As well as information, the following words are all uncountable: news, luggage, advice, furniture,
weather, travel.
General and specific determiners

Determiners are words which come at the beginning of the noun phrase.

They tell us whether the noun phrase is specific or general.

Determiners are either specific or general

Specific determiners:

The specific determiners are:

the definite article: the

possessives: my, your, his, her, its; our, their, whose

demonstratives: this, that, these, those

interrogatives: which

We use a specific determiner when we believe the listener/reader knows exactly what we are referring
to:

Can you pass me the salt please?

Look at those lovely flowers.

Thank you very much for your letter.

Whose coat is this?

General determiners:

The general determiners are:

a; an; any; another; other; what

When we are talking about things in general and the listener/reader does not know exactly what we are
referring to, we can use a uncount noun or a plural noun with no determiner:

Milk is very good for you. (= uncount noun)

Health and education are very important. (= 2 uncount nouns)

Girls normally do better in school than boys. (= plural nouns with no determiner)

… or you can use a singular noun with the indefinite article a or an:

A woman was lifted to safety by a helicopter.

A man climbing nearby saw the accident.

We use the general determiner any with a singular noun or an uncount noun when we are talking about
all of those people or things:

It’s very easy. Any child can do it. (= All children can do it)

With a full licence you are allowed to drive any car.

I like beef, lamb, pork - any meat.

We use the general determiner another to talk about an additional person or thing:

Would you like another glass of wine?

The plural form of another is other:

I spoke to John, Helen and a few other friends.

Quantifiers

We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about the number of something: how
much or how many.
Uncount nouns used as count nouns

Although substances are usually uncount nouns...

Would you like some cheese?

Coffee keeps me awake at night.

Wine makes me sleep.

... they can be also used as count nouns:

I’d like a coffee please. = I’d like a [cup of] coffee.

May I have a white wine. = May I have a [glass of] white wine.

They sell a lot of coffees. = They sell a lot of [different kinds of] coffee.

I prefer white wines to red. = I prefer [different kinds of] white wine to red.

They had over twenty cheeses on sale. = They had over twenty [types of] cheese on sale.

This is an excellent soft cheese. = This [kind of] soft cheese is excellent.

2: Some nouns have both a count and an uncount form:

We should always have hope.

George had hopes of promotion.

Travel is a great teacher.

Where did you go on your travels?

3: Nouns with two meanings

Some nouns have two meanings, one count and the other non count:

His life was in danger.

There is a serious danger of fire.

Linguistics is the study of language.

Is English a difficult language?

It’s made of paper.

The Times is an excellent paper.

Other words like this are:

business death industry marriage power property

tax time victory use work

4: Uncount nouns that end in -s

Some uncount nouns end in -s so they look like plurals even though they are singular nouns.

These nouns generally refer to:

Subjects of study: mathematics, physics, economics, etc.

Activities: gymnastics, athletics, etc.

Games: cards, darts, billiards, etc.

Diseases: mumps, measles, rabies, etc.

Economics is a very difficult subject.

Billiards is easier than pool or snooker.

5: Group nouns

Some nouns, like army, refer to groups of people, animals or things, and we can use them either as
singular nouns or as plural nouns.

army audience committee company crew enemy

family flock gang government group herd

media public regiment staff team

We can use these group nouns either as singular nouns or as plural nouns:

My family is very dear to me.

I have a large family. They are very dear to me. (= The members of my family…)

The government is very unpopular.

The government are always changing their minds.

Sometimes we think of the group as a single thing:

The audience always enjoys the show.

The group consists of two men and three women.

Sometimes we think of the group as several individuals;

The audience clapped their hands.

The largest group are the boys.

The names of many organisations and teams are also group nouns, but they are usually plural in spoken
English:

Barcelona are winning 2-0.

The United Oil Company are putting prices up by 12%.

6: Two-part nouns

A few plural nouns, like binoculars, refer to things that have two parts.

glasses jeans knickers pincers pants pliers

pyjamas scissors shorts spectacles tights trainers

trousers tweezers

These binoculars were very expensive

Those trousers are too long.

To make it clear we are talking about one of these items, we use a pair of …

I need a new pair of spectacles.

I’ve bought a pair of blue jeans.

If we want to talk about more than one, we use pairs of … :

We’ve got three pairs of scissors, but they are all blunt.

I always carry two pairs of binoculars.