Countable nouns
What are countable nouns? As the name suggests, these are nouns that can be counted. In other words, countable nouns have both singular and plural forms. How can you recognize them? In the singular form, countable nouns use articles like a, an, or the. In the plural form, they either use the or no article at all. Here are some examples of countable nouns in English:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL |
|---|---|
| 1 bag | 2 bags |
| 1 child | 2 children* |
| 1 banana | 2 bananas |
| 1 house | 2 houses |
*irregular plural
Forming the Plural of Countable Nouns
Regular plural:
city – cities, baby – babies
Irregular plural:
person – people
Uncountable Nouns
Uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be counted. There are fewer uncountable nouns than countable ones, but they are important to learn. With uncountable nouns, we do not use the articles a or an. To express quantity, we use phrases like some, a lot of, etc. Here are some categories of uncountable nouns:
Grains and powders: rice, wheat, sand
Liquids: milk, water
Gases: oxygen, air
Emotions: anger, happiness, courage
Natural phenomena: sunshine, rain, weather
Sports: golf, tennis, hockey
Subjects: mathematics, sociology
Languages: English, Spanish, Polish
Activities: sleeping, eating, drinking
Mass nouns: furniture, hair, transportation
Abstract nouns: advice, motivation, chaos
States: sleep, stress, childhood
How much? vs How many?
How much + uncountable noun
How much water do you want?
How many + countable noun
How many bags do you have?
Expressions for Quantity
Only for uncountable nouns:
a little bit of
Only for countable nouns:
a few
Expressions for both:
plenty of
We have some bread.
We have some bags.
Examples of Uncountable Nouns
Food
beef
beer
bread
butter
cheese
coffee
dessert
flour
food
fish
fruit
garlic
ice
ice cream
jam
jelly
meat
milk
pasta
rum
salad
salt
seafood
spaghetti
soup
sugar
tea
toast
veal
yeast
Grains and Powders
corn
millet
oats
popcorn
rice
rye
sand
wheat
Liquids
gasoline
oil
petrol
water
wine
Gases
octane
oxygen
Emotions
anger
anxiety
delight
despair
disgust
empathy
envy
excitement
fear
happiness
hate
hatred
hope
joy
love
misery
pleasure
pride
relief
sadness
trust
Natural Phenomena
sunshine
rain
weather
Sports
basketball
chess
football
golf
poker
soccer
tennis
Subjects
civics
economics
ethics
history
mathematics
music
photography
physics
politics
sociology
vocabulary
Languages
French
Greek
Italian
Norwegian
Portuguese
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Turkish
Activities
eating
reading
sleeping
studying
working
Mass Nouns
business
clothing
cotton
equipment
furniture
glass
gold
hair
homework
information
jewelry
luggage
machinery
money
news
paper
perfume
progress
silver
soap
traffic
travel
trouble
wood
work
Abstract Nouns
art
behavior
education
energy
enjoyment
faith
friendship
fun
help
hospitality
knowledge
recreation
relaxation
Fun fact about uncountable nouns
Abstract nouns often have the suffix -tion, -ism, -ity, -ment, -ness, -age, -ance, -ence, -ship, -ability, -ac
States and Attributes
pain
sleep
skill
