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A, SOME, ANY – COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
Grammar » A1 Grammar lessons and exercises » A, some, any – countable and uncountable nouns
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Countable nouns
Countable nouns are nouns that we can count: car, house, book, etc. We can say
one car, two cars, three cars, etc.
Singular and plural
Countable nouns have singular and plural forms: a car/cars, a house/houses, a
book/books, etc.
A/an + singular countable noun
We CANNOT use a singular countable noun without a determiner like a/an or
the.
I have a car. (NOT I have car.)
When I was a child. (NOT When I was child.)
Uncountable nouns
Uncountable nouns are nouns that we cannot count: money, milk, rain, etc. We
cannot say one money, two moneys, etc.
Only singular
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Uncountable nouns do not have a plural form, they only have a singular form:
money/moneys, milk/milks, rain/rains, etc.
Not a/an
We cannot use a/an + uncountable noun. A/an means ‘one’, and we cannot
count uncountable nouns.
I need money. (NOT a money.)
We need to buy sugar. (NOT a sugar.)
Types of words that are uncountable
Some types of words that are typically uncountable are:
Food, drinks and liquids: cheese, bread, pasta, coffee, milk, petrol, fuel, etc.
Materials: iron, wood, metal, paper, plastic, etc.
Abstract ideas and feelings: information, advice, strength, time, love,
excitement, etc.
Illnesses: diabetes, alzheimer, cancer, etc.
Languages: English, French, Spanish, etc.
Uncountable in English but not in other languages
Some nouns are uncountable in English, but they are countable in other
languages. Some of them are: advice, news (it ends in -s, but it’s a singular word),
furniture, luggage, baggage, bread, cheese, toast, etc.
Countable and uncountable
Some nouns can be countable and uncountable because they can refer to a unit
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or to ‘mass’ or ‘material’. Compare:
Yesterday I had two coffees. (= two cups of coffee)
I love coffee. (= the liquid that we drink)
I found one hair in my soup. (one single hair)
She has beautiful hair. (= the mass of hair on her head)
A/an, some, any
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A/an
We use a/an + singular countable noun.
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I have a new car.
She has a brother and a sister.
We cannot use a/an before a plural noun or an uncountable noun.
I need to buy sugar. (NOT a sugar.)
We saw very beautiful places. (NOT a very beautiful places.)
Some/any
We use some and any before countable plural nouns or singular uncountable
nouns.
He gave me some coins.
He didn’t give me any coins.
He gave me some money.
Some
We use some in positive sentences.
We cooked some cookies.
Any
We use any in negative sentences and questions.
She didn’t send me any messages.
Have you got any brothers or sisters?
But we use some in questions when we are asking for something or we are
offering something.
