Nouns: countable and uncountable

Nouns in English can be countable or uncountable.

 

Countable Nouns

 

We can count countable nouns:

• one car, two cars, three cars…

 

Examples of countable nouns include:

• accident, banana, couch, dream, neighbourhood.

 

We can use ‘a’ and ‘an’ with singular countable nouns:

• an accident, a banana, a couch, a dream, a neighbourhood.

 

They have singular and plural forms:

 

singular	plural
accident	accidents
banana	bananas
couch	couches
dream	dreams
neighbourhood	neighbourhoods

 

We can use ‘some’ with plural countable nouns:

• I’d like some bananas, please.

 

Uncountable Nouns

 

We can’t count uncountable nouns:

• one air, two airs, three airs…

 

Examples of uncountable nouns include:

• advice, information, money, music, water.

 

We can’t use ‘a’ and ‘an’ with  uncountable nouns:

• an advice, an information, a money, a music, a water.

 

Uncountable nouns are usually liquids, materials or abstract nouns.

 

They don’t usually have plural forms:

• advices, informations, moneys, musics, waters.

 

Other common uncountable nouns include:

Food and Drink

 

coffee	juice
tea	wine
bread	cheese
fruit	meat
pasta	rice

 

accommodation	furniture
homework	news
traffic	work

 

We can use ‘some’ with uncountable nouns:

• I’d like some water, please.

 

We can also use phrases like ‘a glass of’, ‘a bottle of’ or ‘a piece of’:

• I’d like a glass of water, please.
• We bought two bottles of wine.
• This is a beautiful piece of music.