A, some, any: Countable and uncountable nouns

Countable nouns

Countable nouns are nouns that we can count: car, house, book, etc. We can say one car, two cars, three cars, etc.

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, the, my, your, her, etc.

• I have car. 
• I have a car.
• When I was child. 
• When I was a child.

Uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns are nouns that we cannot count: money, milk, rain, etc. We cannot say one money, two moneys, etc. So, uncountable nouns do not have a plural form; they only have a singular form: money, milk, rain, etc.

Do NOT use a/an

We cannot use a/an + uncountable noun. A/an means ‘one’, and we cannot count uncountable nouns.

• I need a money.
• I need money.
• We need to buy a sugar. 
• We need to buy sugar.

Types of words that are uncountable

Some types of words that are typically uncountable are:

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.

Nouns that can be countable and uncountable

Some nouns can be countable and uncountable because they can refer to a unit 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.

• 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.

• We need to buy a sugar. 
• I need to buy sugar.
• We saw a very beautiful places. 
• We saw very beautiful places.

Some/any

We use some and any before countable plural nouns or uncountable singular 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.

• Can I have some tea? (=I’m asking for some tea.)
• Would you like some tea? (=I’m offering you some tea.)