Lesson Summary 

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So many of YOUR English mistakes are related to the way that you use nouns! In this free video lesson, we are going to improve your use of English nouns!

There are two types of nouns – countable and uncountable. Knowing the difference between them and how you can use these types of nouns is really important. It affects how you use:
– articles (a/an/the)
– much/many
– some/any
– a little/a few
– so/such

Learning and understanding how countable and uncountable nouns are used differently in English will DRAMATICALLY improve your grammar!

This video, we’ll focus on uncountable nouns. You can check out my lesson on countable nouns right here: https://youtu.be/XWkRGtCd3eY

What you need to know about uncountable nouns:
Uncountable nouns are difficult to count! All of these nouns are uncountable:
– Liquids (water, milk, wine)
– Powders (flour, coffee, sugar)
– gases (air)
– electricity, money, music…
– abstract nouns (like happiness, motivation and luck)

Uncountable nouns have only one form – they cannot be plural.

You can’t use ‘a' or ‘an' with uncountable nouns because they are used with singular nouns (one) – and uncountable nouns can’t be counted!
You can’t use numbers with uncountable nouns!

You can use ‘some’ with uncountable nouns – because we use it to say there is an amount, but not a specific amount.

But you can also use uncountable nouns WITHOUT ‘some’: Can you get rice from the supermarket? When it’s not important to say how much!

Watch the video lesson to learn how you can quantify uncountable nouns.

Some uncountable nouns that are commonly used
Most Common Mistakes that I see with uncountable nouns?
advice
knowledge
information
news
luggage
furniture
equipment

CLICK HERE to read the full lesson transcript.

CLICK HERE to watch the Countable Nouns video and read the full lesson transcript.

More English lessons recommended for you: 

Video Transcript
Section 1
Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

In this lesson we're focusing on English nouns. Why? Because so many of the mistakes you're making in English are related to the way that you use nouns.

Starting from the top, there are two types of English noun, countable and uncountable English nouns.

Now, you might be thinking “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah… Whatever it doesn't really matter!” But actually, it does matter. It really really does, for a whole lot of reasons! Like, how to use articles correctly.

How to use ‘much' and ‘many', ‘so' and ‘such', ‘some' and ‘any' or ‘a little' and ‘a few'. These words all depend on the type of noun and learning and understanding more about countable and uncountable nouns and how they're used differently will dramatically improve your English grammar!

I guarantee you that some of the mistakes that you're making in English are because you are treating an uncountable noun like a countable noun or a countable noun like an uncountable noun!

Now, I've made you a ‘cheat sheet' to help you understand these rules and I'm going to tell you how to download it at the end of this lesson.

In this video we're focusing on uncountable nouns but you can check out another video on countable nouns right there.

Okay! So, the kitchen is a great place to start talking about countable and uncountable nouns. It's been a while since mmmEnglish has been in the kitchen, so I'm very excited to be back here!

The easiest way to remember uncountable nouns is to think about nouns that are difficult to count. Things like liquids, water or wine. Gases, the air, or powders like flour. Or things like electricity, money or abstract nouns like happiness, motivation and luck.

Now, all of these nouns, if you think about it, are difficult to count. Uncountable nouns have only one form. They can't be plural. You can't use ‘a' or ‘an' with uncountable nouns because they can't be counted.

You can't use numbers with them at all. We can't say “I need a milk” or “give me 3 monies”. But you can use some with uncountable nouns and that just means ‘an amount', but not a specific amount.

“Can you get some rice from the supermarket for me?”

We can also use uncountable nouns without ‘some'.

“Can you get rice from the supermarket for me?”

That's perfectly okay as well!

For example, to make pancakes I need to make, I need to have some flour. I need to have some sugar, some water and maybe even some maple syrup. All of these nouns are uncountable but we do need a way to quantify these nouns, especially when you're cooking in the kitchen. We need to know how much to use!

And that's easy to do when you're talking about countable nouns, like ‘a lemon' or ‘an apple', but with countable nouns you need another countable noun to help you quantify your uncountable noun.

A packet of rice, a cup of oil, a can of coconut milk, 2 litres of water, for example.

And all of a sudden, all of these things can become countable! Notice how I was using an article with all of those nouns?

Now, this is all great in the kitchen but what about outside of the kitchen, with nouns like information or happiness or money, luggage, advice!

It's the same idea! A piece of information, a moment of happiness, a bit of luck or a bit of money, two pieces of luggage or I've got three pieces of advice for you!

Let's recap on uncountable nouns for a moment.
They have only one form.
They're never plural.
You can't use articles like ‘a' or ‘an' with them and can't use numbers.
You can't say ‘an information' or ‘two luggages' or ‘three advices'.

Okay? Fabulous!

Don't forget that you can download this worksheet to help you practice using uncountable nouns correctly.

Now, there are some uncountable nouns that you'll see being used as plural nouns.

Eeek! But before you freak out, these exceptions are related to the context and just for a moment this is going to get a little bit confusing. But be patient, stay calm! I'm going to help you to understand right now!

Let's use coffee as an example. I've got some instant coffee here, some coffee beans and of course, a delicious cup of coffee. Now, the liquid is uncountable and so is the powder that's in instant coffee. Now, you can count the beans but that's less common. So, we need some other countable nouns to tell us some more information about the noun.

A jar, a packet or a kilogram a cup. But you might hear someone say, “I'll have a coffee with two sugars please.”

Huh? Coffee and sugar are both uncountable! How can that be?

Well simply, the context will tell us that it means a cup of coffee and two teaspoons of sugar. The same if someone said “We'll take three waters.” It means three bottles of water or three glasses of water.

So, how do you know if a noun is countable or uncountable? It's easy!

In the dictionary when you look up this word, you'll see [U] or a [C] next to that noun. It will tell you if it's countable or uncountable and instantly, you'll know how you can use this noun, especially once you download the worksheet that's going to help you.

It's really important because there's lots of different words that you can use in English with uncountable nouns that you can't use with countable nouns.

There's a little water in my cup.
There's a few waters in my cup.
There's too much information.
There's too many informations.

So, it's really important that you're using the correct English word with these nouns.

Now, before I finish I want to tell you some of the biggest mistakes that I see with uncountable nouns in English.

Advice, knowledge, information, news, luggage, equipment and furniture. These are all uncountable nouns. They have only one form.

So that's it for this lesson! I hope that you're feeling a little more confident with uncountable nouns now. Remember that you can watch the countable nouns lesson, right here!

Make sure that you subscribe to my channel, so that you never miss a lesson!

There's a couple more lessons in this playlist that you might enjoy too! That's it for now but I will see you again very soon! Bye!

Lesson Summary 

Grab the short course for $1! 👇👇👇
Stop making the 10 most common Mistakes English Learners Make! In this course you’ll practise what you learned in this lesson about countable nouns with quizzes and worksheets. PLUS, there are 9 more grammar lessons and quizzes to help you practise!
https://www.mmmenglish.com/grammar-challenge/

So many of YOUR English mistakes are related to the way that you use nouns! In this free video lesson, we are going to improve your use of English nouns!

There are two types of nouns – countable and uncountable. Knowing the difference between them and how you can use these types of nouns is really important. It affects how you use:
– articles (a/an/the)
– much/many
– some/any
– a little/a few
– so/such

Learning and understanding how countable and uncountable nouns are used differently in English will DRAMATICALLY improve your grammar!

This video, we’ll focus on countable nouns. You can check out my lesson on uncountable nouns right here: https://youtu.be/tjPoypKI11g

What you need to know about countable nouns:
Some nouns are ‘countable’ – very simply, you can count them!
We can say there are three, five or ten of these nouns.
Countable nouns have singular and plural forms.
For example: one lemon (singular), three lemons (plural)

You can use the articles ‘a' and ‘an', with the singular form of the noun: a glass, an apple, a banana…

What about plural countable nouns?

When you have a plural countable noun, you can use the number to say how many. Or you can use ‘some’ (when you don’t want to be specific about how many)
You can say: some red chillies, some potatoes, two forks and three zucchinis!

Most English nouns are countable nouns. Other examples include: day, week, hour, minute, dollar, task, story, job, coin, accident and appointment.

Countable nouns:
– can be singular or plural.
– use a/an when using the singular form
– Use some when plural, but you don’t want to be specific
– Use the number to be specific!

Video Transcript
Sect
Hello I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

Now, you might already know that there are two types of English nouns, countable and uncountable nouns. Knowing the difference between these nouns is really important and I can tell you right now that so many of the English grammar mistakes that you're making are to do with these different types of nouns.

They affect the way that you use other words in English, words like articles and much and many, some and any, a little, a few!

Learning how to use uncountable and countable nouns with these words will really, dramatically improve your English grammar. In this video, I'm going to focus countable nouns but I've made another lesson that's all about uncountable nouns.

You can check it out up there or you can wait to the end of this lesson and I'll link to it there.

Okay! Some nouns are countable which means really simply, you can count them. You can say that there are three, give or ten of these different nouns.

For example, this is an apple and I've got three apples here. They have singular and plural forms. Countable nouns have singular and plural forms, which means that you can use the articles ‘a' or ‘an' with the singular form of these nouns.

A lemon, an apple, a glass.

Okay, so I said an apple and a lemon there, didn't I?

So, what's the difference?

Well, ‘a' or ‘an' is just like saying that there is one of something, so it's used with a singular noun, never in the plural form. We use ‘a' in front of a noun that starts with a consonant sound.

A banana, a cup, a plate, a potato, a lemon.

We use ‘an' in front of a noun that starts with a vowel, a vowel sound, like an apple or an orange or an hour.

Now, hour's a little tricky. It starts with a consonant and actually it starts with a vowel sound. So, we're talking about letters or sounds. This word starts with a consonant letter but the first sound that you hear when it's pronounced is a vowel sound: ow, ow, hour. Not ‘hhhour'.

So, because it starts with a vowel sound, you need to use the article ‘an'.

So, what about plural countable nouns? When you have a plural countable noun, you can use the word ‘some' if you're not being specific, you don't know exactly how much or you don't want to say exactly how much, use ‘some'. Or, you can use the number and be exact.

You can say ‘some potatoes' or ‘two forks' or ‘three glasses'. Most English nouns are countable, but there are so many nouns outside the kitchen, right? Like day and week and hour, minute, task, appointment, activity.

So, let's recap on countable nouns.

They can be singular or plural.
You can use the articles ‘a' and ‘an' when talking about these nouns, when they're singular.
You can use ‘some' with plural nouns when you don't want to be specific.
Or, you can just use the number to say exactly how many!

Like I said, the majority of English nouns are countable nouns and the way to find out is to check your dictionary. Every dictionary will say whether the noun is countable or uncountable. You'll see a little [u] or a little [c] next to the noun and it's really important that you get into the habit of using these nouns correctly. They are treated very differently in English sentences.

Remember that the words you can use with them are quite different. And this is how so many English mistakes are made, particularly with grammar! So, you really must start paying attention to the type of noun that you're using and how it affects the other words in your sentences.

Now, I've created a cheat sheet to help you practice and study these differences between countable and uncountable nouns and how to use them effectively. You can download it right here.

I hope that you enjoyed this lesson and that you learnt a few things about countable nouns. Don't forget that you can watch the other lesson that's about uncountable nouns, right here.

And of course make sure that you subscribe so that you find out whenever I release a new lesson to help you with your English grammar, your English speaking skills, your confidence in English. All of these things, I make lessons about. You can check out some of those on this playlist, right here.

That's it for today but I'm so pleased that you could join me. Bye for now!

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mmmEnglish Video Lessons are a series of video lessons created to build confidence in English learners and focus on English in daily life. Download them and watch them anywhere! Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to be the first to get my new videos, and come and say hi on my Facebook page!!