What Are Countable Nouns? (with Examples)
What Are Countable Nouns? (with Examples)A countable noun is a noun with both a singular and a plural form. (Most nouns are countable nouns for they name anything that can be counted.)
Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns.
Examples of Countable NounsHere are some examples of countable nouns:
|Singular Form||Plural Form|
Here are some non-countable nouns: hydrogen, meat, furniture, dancing.
Read more about forming plurals.
How to Spot Countable and Non-Countable NounsCountable nouns attract the question how many.
- How many cars?
- How many animals?
- How much time?
- How much wood?
Quantifiers with Countable and Non-Countable NounsQuantifiers tell us about number or amount.
The following terms are quantifiers: a little, a lot of, several, and a few.
Some quantifiers can only be used with countable nouns, some can only be used with non-countable nouns, and some can be used with both. Here is a list of some common quantifiers:
|Quantifiers for countable nouns||Quantifiers for non-countable nouns||Quantifiers for both|
A few [cakes]|
A number of [cakes]
A bit of [baking]
An amount of [baking]
A little [baking]
A lot of [baking / cakes]
Any [baking / cakes]
Lots of [baking / cakes]
No [baking / cakes]
Some [baking / cakes]
Read more about quantity, amount, and number.