COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

How much and How many

En ingles cuando queremos preguntar acerca de la cantidad de un sustantivo incontable, usamos 
la estructura: 

“How much + sustantivo + is there?

Ejemplo: How much milk is there ? = ¿ cuánta leche hay ?

En las respuestas se puede usar un partitivo no especifico como; a lot ( un montón ), 
a little ( un poco ), none ( nada ), some ( algo ).Ejemplo: How much milk is there ? = There is a little.
¿Cuanta leche hay? hay un poco

  

EXAMPLES

How much / How many

Se utilizan para preguntar por cantidades de algo.

Si se trata de sustantivos contables, se aplica How many.
Si se trata de sustantivos incontables, se usa How much.

Estas expresiones siempre van seguidas de un sustantivo; luego, el verbo y el resto de la oración.

How many cars do you have?¿Cuántos autos tienes?How much money do you have?¿Cuánto dinero tienes?

How much se utiliza también para preguntar precios.

How much is this car?¿Cuánto cuesta este auto?How much are the potatoes?¿Cuánto cuestan las papas?

También se usan en forma genérica para preguntar "cuánto hay". En este caso, van seguidas del sustantivo y luego, is / are there.

How many cars are there?¿Cuántos autos hay?How much money is there?¿Cuánto dinero hay?

A estas preguntas se responde usando There is / are, dependiendo de si se trata de singular o plural, como ya hemos visto en lecciones anteriores.

There are nine cars.Hay nueve autos.There is one dollar.Hay un dólar.

Para hacer referencia a los sustantivos incontables, se pueden utilizar los envases o las medidas de los envases que los contienen, los cuales sí son contables...

How much milk is there?¿Cuánta leche hay?

There are three litres.Hay tres litros.

There are three bottles.Hay tres botellas.

Practice

http://www.better-english.com/easier/howmuch.htm

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

Nouns can be divided into two kinds: countable and uncountable.

(A) Countable Nouns

i. Countable nouns are nouns that we can count. They can be singular or plural.

e.g. I have a boiled egg for breakfast.

   I bought three story books yesterday.

   The students in this school are very polite.

ii. We use the indefinite article (a/ an) before singular nouns.

  e.g. a boiled egg

iii. We use a definite article (the) or a number before plural nouns.

  e.g. the students

      three story books

iv. We change most singular nouns to plurals by adding –s. However, there are some that follow different rules.

  

Nouns	We . . .	Examples
Nouns ending in -s, -x, -ss, -ch, -sh	＋es	buses, boxes, dresses, watches, bushes
Nouns ending in -o	＋s or ＋es	pianos, zoos, tomatoes, potatoes, heroes
Nouns ending in a vowel ＋ -y	＋s	boys, cats, days, monkeys,
Nouns ending in a consonant ＋ -y	change y to ies	bodies, cities, countries, ladies, families
Nouns ending in -f/-fe	change -f/-fe to -ves	leaves, shelves, lives, knives
Some special nouns	change the vowel(s), change some letters at the end, add letters at the end	footàfeet,  manàmen mouseàmice childàchildren
Some animals	Make no change	fishàfish, deeràdeer, sheepàsheep

1

(B) Uncountable Nouns

i. Uncountable nouns are nouns that we cannot count. We cannot count them because they

- are too difficult to count.

    e.g. rice, hair, sugar

   - do not have separate parts.

    e.g. air, water, steam

   - are abstract.

     e.g. friendship, happiness, health

    ii. Uncountable nouns do not have a plural form. We do not use an indefinite article (a/an) or numerals (one, two, three, etc.) in front of these nouns.

    iii. If we want to show the amount of an uncountable noun, we use quantity words in front of it.

       e.g. two cups of tea    

          a bowl of rice

          three tins of paint

    iv. We cannot use many/few with uncountable nouns, but we can say some/much/ a lot of/ all of the/ most of the water, butter, cheese, etc.

Exercise 1

Underline the noun in each sentence and write ‘C’ or ‘U’ to show whether the noun is countable or uncountable.

1.      That is a very good painting. __________

2.      I don’t like coffee. __________

3.      I need two clean glasses. __________

4.      She bought a new iron yesterday. __________

5.      They’ve got plenty of coal. __________

6.      Would you like some chicken? __________

7.      Too much cake isn’t good for you. __________

8.      She ate a whole chicken. __________.

9.      How much flour did you buy? __________.

10.  Hope keeps me going. __________

EXERCISES