Countable & Uncountable Nouns

Hook

You can say “an apple” and “two apples”, but not “a water” or “two rices”. Some food words can be counted, and some can’t. This small difference decides whether you use a, some, many or much.

Notice

  • I have an apple. I have three apples.
  • There are two eggs in the fridge.
  • I’d like some water, please.
  • There is some rice on the table.
  • Can I have two bottles of water, please?

Which words have a plural form? Which never take a number?

Rule

CountableUncountable
Examplesapple, egg, banana, sandwich, potato, biscuitwater, milk, rice, bread, cheese, sugar, meat, money
Singulara / an: an eggno a/an: some bread
Pluraltwo eggs, some eggsno plural: ✗ breads
VerbThe eggs are fresh.The bread is fresh.

To count an uncountable noun, use a container or unit: a bottle of water · a glass of milk · a cup of tea · a loaf of bread · a slice of cheese · a kilo of rice · a piece of cake.

Watch Out

  • ✗ Can I have a water? → ✓ Can I have some water / a bottle of water?
  • ✗ I bought two breads. → ✓ I bought two loaves of bread.
  • ✗ The rice are cold. → ✓ The rice is cold. (uncountable + is)
  • ✗ some apple → ✓ some apples

Practice

  1. Is apple countable or uncountable?
  2. Is rice countable or uncountable?
  3. Is egg countable or uncountable?
  4. Sort: bread, banana, milk, potato, cheese, orange.
  5. a ___ of bread
  6. a ___ of tea
  7. Correct it: “The milk are in the fridge.”
  8. a, an or some? “I’d like ___ cheese.”
Show the answers
  1. countable
  2. uncountable
  3. countable
  4. countable: banana, potato, orange · uncountable: bread, milk, cheese
  5. loaf / slice
  6. cup
  7. The milk is in the fridge.
  8. some

Your Turn

Write a shopping list of eight things. Use a number for countable nouns (six eggs) and a container or some for uncountable nouns (a bottle of milk, some rice).

Connect

Our Grammar Quiz has A1 questions on countable and uncountable nouns.

Try our Grammar Quiz →

Fix mistakes like “two breads” in our Error Correction tool.

Try Error Correction →

CEFR A1 — Spoken Interaction: I can ask for things and handle numbers and quantities when shopping.

Azizul Hakim
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