Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable and uncountable nouns

You will learn about countable and uncountable nouns. but before you continue the lesson, look at the following chart and study the nouns.

Countable	Uncountable
books	money
friends	meat
teachers	juice
tables	milk

Countable nouns (count nouns):

Countable nouns have a singular and a plural form. In plural, these nouns can be used with a number- they can be counted. (That's why they are called "countable nouns").

Example:

1 friend, 2 friends, 3 friends... 1 book, 2 books, 3 books...

Countable nouns take many.

Example:  100 friends – many friends

Uncountable nouns (uncount / non-count nouns):

Uncountable nouns can only be used in singular. These nouns cannot be used with a number- they can't be counted. (That's why they are called "uncountable nouns").

Examples:

I have a lot of money. (Not 1000 money) You say I drink a lot of milk. (Not 5 milk)

Uncountable nouns take much.

Example:

 100 money – much money

Note: Of course you can count money, milk, meat; but then you would use the currency, liter, kilo, glass,...and say that you have got:

• 5 euros or dollars... (but not 5 money).

• 2 liters, pints, glasses... of milk (but not 2 milk)

• 3 kilos... of meat (but not 3 meat)

• 10 bottles of mineral water... (but not 10 mineral water)

Much, many and a lot.

Much, many, a lot:

"Much", "many", and "a lot of" indicate a large quantity of something, for example "I have a lot of friends " means I have a large quantity of friends.

Much, many, and a lot are quantifiers.

Study the examples below:

How much money have you got?	I haven't got much money.
	I have got a lot.
	I have got a lot of money.
How many students are in the classroom?	There aren't many.
	There are a lot.
	There are a lot of/lots of students.

In the interrogative forms we use:

• much with uncountable nouns. (money, bread, water...) Example: How much money/bread/water...is there?

• many with countable nouns. (students, desks, windows...) Example: How many students/teachers/desks... are there?

(See the lesson on countable and countable nouns )

In the negative forms we use:

• much with uncountable nouns. (money, bread, water...) Example: I haven't got much money/bread/water...

• many with countable nouns. (students, desks, windows...) Example: There aren't many students/teachers/desks...

In the affirmative forms:

In spoken English and informal writing we tend to use:

• a lot, a lot of, lots of with countable and uncountable nouns.  Example: "How many students are there in the classroom?"  "There are a lot." "How many students are there in the classroom?" "There are a lot of / lots of students"..

In formal written English:

• It is also possible (and preferable) to use many and much rather than a lot of, lots of and a lot in formal written English. Example: There are many students.  Much time was spent on studying.

So if you're speaking or writing to friends (informal), use a lot, a lot of, lots of. But if you want to be more formal, perhaps it is preferable to use much and many.

Remember:

In affirmative sentences with so, as or too, we also use much / many.

Examples: "Carla has so many friends." "She has as many friends as Sue." "Kevin has too much money."

Summary:

Interrogative	Negative	Affirmative
How many books are there?	There aren't many.	There are a lot.
		There are a lot of books.
		There are lots of books.
		There are many books (formal)
How much money have you got?	I haven't got much.	I've got a lot.
		I've got a lot of money.
		I've got lots of money.
		I have got much money (formal)