Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable VS Uncountable Nouns

Introduction
1) A noun is a word used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun).

You can buy coffee at Starbucks.
2) Nouns can be countable or uncountable. Study the following table and learn the differences between countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable Nouns
(apple, song, house etc.)
Uncountable Nouns
(tea, money, love etc.)
Things that can be counted, even if the number might be extremely high (e.g. all the people in the world).
Things that we cannot count with numbers. They may be the names for abstract ideas or qualities or for physical objects that are too small to count or shapeless (liquids, gases etc.).
Can be singular or plural.

I have an apple and you have three apples.
No plural form.

We’re going to have rice for lunch.
You can use a/an with singular countable nouns.


There is a girl outside. She is wearing a beautiful dress.
You can’t use a/an with uncountable nouns. But you can often use the phrase a (bag, cup etc.) of.

There is a bowl of rice and a bottle of juice on the table.
If you want to ask about the quantity of a countable noun, you ask ‘How many?’ combined with the plural countable noun.

How many dogs are there? – There are five dogs.
If you want to ask about the quantity of an uncountable noun, you ask ‘How much?’ combined with the uncountable noun.

How much coffee do we have left? – We don’t have much coffee left.
You can use many, a few, few with plural countable nouns.

Sorry, but I didn’t take many pictures.
I’ve got a few relatives leaving here.
You can use much, a little, little with uncountable nouns.

We didn’t do much shopping there.
We have a little sugar left.



You can use some, any, a lot of both with plural countable nouns and uncountable nouns.


We like singing some crazy songs at karaoke.
We listened to some music there.
Did you buy any oranges?
I didn’t buy any orange juice.
She showed a lot of signs of affection.
There is a lot of love in the air.