Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns

Countable nouns

Anything that is easy to see and count is a countable noun:

- one pencil, two pencils, three pencils, four pencils…..
- one elephant, two elephants, three elephants……
- one pizza, two pizzas…..
- one bird, two birds…..

Sometimes, instead of saying exactly how many there are of something, people will use different words:

- A few pencils
- A lot of elephants
- Some pizzas
- A couple of birds

A couple = 2-3

A few = 3-4

Some = 4-5

A lot = many

People will use these words when they don’t know exactly how many there are and don’t want to stop and count.

For example:

- I have some coins in my pocket.
- There are a few mosquitoes in here.
- I have some gifts for you.
- There are a lot of computers in the shop.


Uncountable Nouns

Anything that would be very difficult to count is an uncountable noun:

- one air? No.
- one rice? No.
- one milk? No.

These would be hard to count. So people use other words to describe how much of something there is:

- A lot
- Some
- A little bit

Examples:

- There is a lot of air.
- I have some rice.
- Do you want some milk?
- There is a little bit of water.

These words don’t tell us exactly how much there is, but they give us an idea about how much there is.