countable and uncountable nouns

A countable noun is a thing you can count: one apple, two apples. An uncountable noun is a thing you can't count one by one, like water, rice or music. It has no a or an, and no plural.

Countable nouns

Use a or an for one, and -s for more than one. One countable thing always needs a word before it: a, the, my, this.

Uncountable nouns

An uncountable noun takes a singular verb (is, was) and words like some, much or a lot of, never a number.

Common ones: water, milk, coffee, rice, bread, money, music, time, work, homework, information, advice, furniture, luggage, news, weather.

Counting uncountable things

To count them, put a container or an amount in front: a glass of water, two cups of coffee, a loaf of bread, a piece of advice.

One word, two meanings

Some nouns are both. Coffee is the drink, and a coffee is one cup of it. Chicken is the meat, and a chicken is the animal.

Common mistakes

Information, advice, news, furniture, luggage and homework are uncountable, even when you mean many things.

• × an advice → some advice, a piece of advice
• × informations → information
• × The news are good. → The news is good.
• × two furnitures → two pieces of furniture
• × a bread → some bread, a loaf of bread