Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are easy to recognize. They are things that we can count. For example: "apple". We can count apples. We can have one, two, three or more appples.

Here are some more countable nouns:
apple, orange, banana, pear
dog, cat, animal, man, person

Countable nouns can be singular or plural:
The apple is sweet.
The apples are sweet.

We can use the indefinite article a/an with countable nouns:
A grape is a fruit.
A dog is an animal.

When a countable noun is singular, we must use a word like a/an/the/my/this with it:
I want a pear.
I want an orange. (not I want orange.)
Where is the bottle? (not Where is bottle?)
Where is my bottle?

When a countable noun is plural, we can use it alone:
I like oranges.
Bottles can break.

We can use some and any with countable nouns:
I've got some graps.
Is there any grapes?

Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are things that we cannot "count" them. For example, we cannot count "milk". We can count "bottles of milk" or "litres of milk", but we cannot count "milk" itself. Here are some more uncountable nouns:

• rice, sugar, butter, water, cheese, bread

We usually treat uncountable nouns as singular. We use a singular verb. For example:

• This bread is very soft.
• Is there any rice?

We do not usually use the indefinite article a/an with uncountable nouns. We cannot say "an information" or "a music". But we can say a something of:

• a bottle of water
• a grain of rice

We can use some and any with uncountable nouns:

• I've got some tea.
• Have you got any rice?

We can use a little and much with uncountable nouns:

• I've got a little money.
• I haven't got much rice.

A chant for you to read together!  Let's read the video.