Nouns: countable and uncountable

Do you know how to use a, some, any, much and many? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

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.

Grammar test 1: Countable and uncountable nouns 1: 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.

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 to learn more.

Try this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar test 2: Countable and uncountable nouns 1: Grammar test 2

Try another grammar lesson

Language level

A1 Elementary

A2 Pre-intermediate

Hi! Why is that the given question uses "is there" but the answer uses "are there"?

For example:

Question: How much milk is there?

Answer: There are two glasses of milk.

Hi Cath,

It all depends on the noun used.

In the question the noun is milk, which is an uncountable noun and so we use 'there is', just as we do for all uncountable nouns.

In the answer the noun is 'glasses (of milk)'. Now we have a countable noun which is plural and so we use 'there are'.

If the answer included just the uncountable noun 'milk' it would have 'there is':

Question: How much milk is there?
Answer: There is a lot of milk.

If the answer included a countable noun which was singular we would also use 'there is':

Question: How much milk is there?
Answer: There is one glass of milk.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

On the museum, we are take some photos but there isn't any information about things in there.

They have lots of milk but there is not much coffee in the cafe.

Hi,

Could you explain why we use "some" in the sentence: "We have got some chicken but there isn't any rice".

From my point of view, the word "chicken" is the singular nouns, therefore we should to use " a chicken" not "some chicken"

Hello NguyenCongTinh,

if you look at the question immediately below this in the comments section you'll see the answer. Users of the site often have the same or similar questions so it's good to check the comments section before asking - the answer may be already waiting for you!

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

There isn't any student or There isn't a student

2. There isn't any bottle or There isn't a bottle

3. There isn't any elephant or There isn't an elephant.

Which one is correct in grammar?

Hello Rebekah,

All of these examples contain countable nouns so you need to use a plural form with 'any' or a singular form with 'a':

There aren't any students / There isn't a student
There aren't any bottles / There isn't a bottle
There aren't any elephants / There isn't an elephant.

With uncountable nouns we use any with a singular form and we cannot use 'a':

There isn't any time.
There isn't any water.
There isn't any hope.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

excuse me I have a question.

We've got some chicken but there isn't any/much rice.

I think chicken is singular but why use ''some''.

Hello UchihaHirato,

You're right that chicken is a countable noun when we are talking about the bird. However, when we are talking about the meat it is uncountable just like other kinds of meat: some chicken, some pork, some turkey, some beef, some fish etc.

You can read more on this topic and see some examples here:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/nouns-countable-and-uncountable

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team