5/12/2020 Countable and uncountable nouns 1 | Grammar - Beginner to pre-intermediate | British Council

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Countable and uncountable

nouns 1

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Do you know how to use a, some, any, much and many?

Look at these examples to see how to use countable and

uncountable nouns in a sentence.

I'm making a cup of tea.

There's some money on the table.
Have we got any bread?
How many chairs do we need?
How much milk have we got?

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

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5/12/2020 Countable and uncountable nouns 1 | Grammar - Beginner to pre-intermediate | British Council

Grammar test 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

Nouns can be countable or uncountable. Countable nouns can be

counted, e.g. an apple, two apples, three apples, etc. Uncountable
nouns cannot be counted, e.g. air, rice, water, etc. When you
learn a new noun, you should check if it is countable or
uncountable and note how it is used in a sentence.

Countable nouns

For positive sentences we can use a/an for singular nouns or some
for plurals.

There's a man at the door.

I have some friends in New York.

For negatives we can use a/an for singular nouns or any for
plurals.

I don't have a dog.

There aren't any seats.

Uncountable nouns

Here are some examples of uncountable nouns:

bread rice coffee information

money advice luggage furniture

We use some with uncountable nouns in positive sentences and

any with negatives.

There's some milk in the fridge.

There isn't any coffee.

Questions

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

Is there an email address to write to?

Are there any chairs?
How many chairs are there?

And we use any or how much with uncountable nouns.

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Is there any sugar?

How much orange juice is there?

But when we are offering something or asking for something, we

normally use some.

Do you want some chocolate?

Can we have some more chairs, please?

We also use some in a question when we think the answer will be

'yes'.

Have you got some new glasses?

Other expressions of quantity

A lot of (or lots of) can be used with both countable and
uncountable nouns.

There are lots of apples on the trees.

There is a lot of snow on the road.

Notice that we don't usually use many or much in positive

sentences. We use a lot of instead.

They have a lot of money.

However, in negative sentences we use not many with countable

nouns and not much with uncountable nouns.

There are a lot of carrots but there aren't many

potatoes.
There's lots of juice but there isn't much water.

Go to Countable and uncountable nouns 2 (/grammar/beginner-to-pre-

intermediate/countable-and-uncountable-nouns-2) to learn more.

Try this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2

Go to Countable and uncountable nouns 2

(
h
Language level t
t
Beginner: A1 Pre-intermediate: A2
p
s

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:
/
/
l
e
a
Comments r
n
Cannon Sensei replied on 23 April, 2020 - 01:17 Japan
e
n
On question 7 in Grammar Test 1, is "We have a lot
g
of chairs but we don't have 'many' tables." incorrect?
li
s
h
.
b
r
i
t
Kirk replied on 23 April, 2020 - 07:38 Spain i
s
Hello Cannon Sensei h
You're right -- 'many' is also a possible answer c
for the second gap. I'll change the exercise so
o
that it accepts that answer as well as 'any'.
Thanks for pointing this out to us.
u
All the best n
Kirk c
The LearnEnglish Team il
.
o
r
g
/
g
r
a
Rebecca Adiyelogun replied on 14 April, 2020 - 15:53

Nigeria
m
Hello team, m
Will it be wrong to write "I've bought many new a
shoes but I didn't get any shirt." r
/
b
e

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g
i
n
n
Rebecca Adiyelogun replied on 14 April, 2020 - 15:46 e
Nigeria r
Hello team, -
Can "many" be used for any plural count nouns?
t
I have many books.
o
-
p
r
e
-
i
n
Kirk replied on 14 April, 2020 - 16:19 Spain t
e
Hello Rebecca r
Yes, you can use 'many' with plural count nouns, m
though people tend to use 'a lot of' instead of
e
'many' in affirmative statements, and to use
'many' more in negative statements (e.g. 'I d
don't have many books'). i
All the best a
Kirk t
The LearnEnglish Team
e
/
c
o
u
n
t
a
Rebecca Adiyelogun replied on 14 April, 2020 - 15:43 b
Nigeria l
Hi, referring to grammar test 1 above: e
" I've bought some new shoes" -
Can I also write the sentence as shown below?
a
" I've bought many new shoes"
n
d
-
u
n

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c
o
u
n
Kirk replied on 14 April, 2020 - 16:21 Spain t
a
Hello Rebecca b
As I mention in my response to your comment
l
above, we don't usually use 'many' in affirmative
sentences like this one; instead we use 'a lot of'.
e
Here the best option is 'some'. -
All the best n
Kirk o
The LearnEnglish Team
u
n
s
-
2
)

marzieh replied on 13 April, 2020 - 15:22 Iraq

Hello,
This section is boring, it is better to use images in
the grammar section.

MehdiParsa replied on 6 April, 2020 - 22:57 Germany

I would like to thank your team for incredible lessons

and tests. We know that ''people'' is a non-count
noun, however, ''How many'' is used for one of your
tests "How many people are coming?" instead of
"How much" I would be thankful if you could give me
more information about this.

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5/12/2020 Countable and uncountable nouns 1 | Grammar - Beginner to pre-intermediate | British Council

Peter M replied on 7 April, 2020 - 06:53 Poland

Hello MehdiParsa,
People is a count noun. It is an irregular plural
form, but otherwise it functions as a normal
plural count noun:

one person
two people
The person is waiting for you.
The people are waiting for you.

The correct question, therefore, is How many

people...?

Peter
The LearnEnglish Team

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