What is a Countable Noun?
Countable nouns are nouns that are distinct and easily countable objects, people, animals, etc. Common examples of countable nouns are apples, houses, or dogs. If you can ask “How many ____ are there?” then you have a countable noun.
Countable nouns have a singular and plural form.
For example, I have one apple, but he has two apples.
When using countable nouns we may also use articles like “a” or “an” in place of “one.” So instead of saying “I want one cat,” you could say, “I want a cat.”
What is an Uncountable Noun?
An uncountable noun is a noun that you cannot easily count. Instead of being classified by “how many” of it there is, an uncountable noun (or noncountable noun) is classified by “how much.” Generally, these are for non-physical things (kinds of emotions), liquids (water), or things that come in such large amounts that we wouldn’t want to count them (sand).
The classic example of an uncountable noun is water. You cannot say “I have one water.” Instead, you would say “I have water” or “I have a cup of water.” As you can see, we can’t count the water, so we either a. Don’t use a number or b. Use a quantifier like “cup”. We cannot count water, but we can count the cups that the water is in.
Difficult Countable and Uncountable Nouns
Is money countable or uncountable? Is fruit countable or uncountable? Is time countable or uncountable? Lots of people have these kinds of questions. We have made this list of difficult countable and uncountable nouns to help explain the more complicated nouns that we encounter.
You will probably notice that most of this list is food words. When thinking about food, it can be difficult to determine if they are countable or uncountable nouns. When thinking about food, ask yourself these two questions:
- Is it a substance? (meat, sugar, salt)
- Is it generally meant to be cut up and shared by many people? (bread or watermelon)
If so, they are generally uncountable. Another important thing, nouns can be both countable and uncountable. So watermelon, when it is cut up and shared, is uncountable, but whole watermelons are countable.
If there are other nouns that you would like us to help you with, please just leave a comment and we can update the page to help you.
Bread Countable or Uncountable Noun
Bread is uncountable. Most foods that are served to share are considered uncountables. The quantifiers for bread are loaves and slices.
Do you have any bread?
I have some bread.
I have a loaf of bread.
I have four slices of bread.
Time Countable or Uncountable Noun
Time itself is uncountable, but the ways we divide time are countable.
How much time do you have?
I have a lot of time.
She only has a bit of time before work starts.
Time though is usually conceptualized in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, etc. All of these are countable nouns and should be treated as such.
It is two days from now.
I have a month until school is done.
Fruit Countable or Uncountable Noun
Fruit is generally an uncountable noun.
What kinds of fruit do you have in India?
We have many kinds of fruit in India.
They like to eat a lot of fruit.
Fruit can sometimes be treated as a countable noun, but this is generally up to a speaker’s preferences.
My favorite fruits are oranges, mangos, and apples. / My favorite kinds of fruit are oranges, mangos, and apples.
When picking a fruit, be careful that you don’t bruise it. / When picking fruit, be careful that you don’t bruise it.
In short, when in doubt just treat fruit as an uncountable noun. However, don’t be surprised to hear others sometimes use it as a countable noun.
Money Countable or Uncountable Noun
Money itself is an uncountable noun. However, units of money (dollars, cents, pounds) are countable.
Do you have any money?
I have lots of money.
She lost all of her money in a robbery.
I have five dollars in my wallet.
John asked me for twenty pounds.
Fish Countable or Uncountable Noun
Fish can be both a countable noun and an uncountable noun. When you are counting individual fish as living things, they are countable. When we are discussing fish as food, we generally treat this as an uncountable noun. To further confuse things, when treated as a countable noun, the plural of fish is still fish.
How many fish do you both have?
I have two fish. She has one fish.
How much fish do you like to eat?
I like to eat a lot of fish. My wife won’t eat any fish.
