WordGarden.iouncountable
A2Pronunciation
UK
- /ʌnkˈaʊntəbəl/
US
Meanings
Adjective
too many or too much to be counted
describing a noun that is not normally counted as separate units
having more elements than any countable set
Beyond the definition
Imagine trying to count grains of sand on a beach—frustrating, right? That's the core idea behind "uncountable." These nouns, also called mass nouns, are usually measured in amounts rather than counted as separate items. You can have a lot of water or some sugar, but in normal grammar you would not usually say "one water" or "two sugars."
Think about it like this: you can count apples—one apple, two apples. But you measure flour—a cup of flour, a pound of flour. These nouns often name substances, ideas, or things made of many tiny parts that English treats as one whole. If you're writing a recipe or talking about ideas like "love" or "knowledge," you'll meet many nouns of this kind.
The word "uncountable" describes nouns that are not usually counted as individual, separate items. Unlike countable nouns (like books, cars, or people), which have clear singular and plural forms, these nouns are generally treated as a mass or quantity and usually take a singular verb. You would not normally say "one information" or "three furniture." Instead, you'd use phrases like "a piece of information," "some furniture," or measure them with units like kilograms, liters, or cups.
This idea matters in English grammar because it affects how we use articles (like "a" and "the") and quantity words (like "much," "little," "some," and "any"). For instance, you would say "much water" but "many bottles of water."
Common examples include: water, air, sand, sugar, salt, rice, money, information, advice, furniture, music, and happiness. It's important to note that some nouns can be both countable and uncountable depending on the context. For example, "hair" is generally uncountable when referring to the whole head of hair (he has thick hair), but it becomes countable when referring to individual strands (I found two hairs on my jacket).
Understanding whether a noun is countable or uncountable helps make your writing and speech grammatically correct. It means seeing that some things are not naturally divided into separate units. They may flow like water, spread like sand, or describe ideas such as happiness or knowledge.
Examples
- 1
Advice
"Advice" is uncountable, so you can't say "an advice."
- 2
Furniture
In English, "furniture" is uncountable, even though it refers to many things.
- 3
Grammar lesson
The teacher asked us to group the words into countable and uncountable nouns.
See also
Forms and spellings
1 form open this card.
Main spelling
- uncountableadjective