AmyMath
← English – Grade 6
CLASS 6 · LEARNING KNOWLEDGE

Countable nouns and quantity expressions in English

How it works

In English, a distinction is made between countable (‹countable›) and uncountable (‹uncountable›) nouns. Countable nouns such as ‹apple› or ‹car› can be used in the singular and plural and with numbers (e.g. ‹three apples›). For quantity expressions with countable nouns, words such as ‹many› or ‹a few› are used. Uncountable nouns such as ‹water› or ‹rice› are usually used only in the singular and take quantity expressions such as ‹much› or ‹a little›. The correct choice of quantity expression depends on whether the noun is countable. Example: ‹How many books do you have?› (countable) vs. ‹How much milk do you want?› (uncountable).

Note
For countable nouns, use ‹many›, ‹few›, ‹a›/‹an› or numbers. For uncountable nouns, use ‹much›, ‹little› or quantity expressions such as ‹some›. The wording must match the countability.

An example

Choose the correct quantity expression: ‹How ___ oranges are there in the basket?›

The correct answer is ‹many›, because ‹oranges› is countable: ‹How many oranges are there in the basket?›

Try it yourself now

50 Exercises

To the learning unit →

Own explanation and own practice exercises by AmyMath. Subject reference framework: English. The topic assignment may vary by federal state.