Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable Nouns

Most nouns are countable nouns, or count nouns. They are called countable nouns because they refer to people or things that can be counted.

How to use the articles - a, an, the?

When you are talking about only one person, animal, place, or thing, you can put a or an before the noun.

We put an before words beginning with vowels (a, e, i, o, u). But some words do not follow this rule. For example, some words that begins with the letter u, use a (not an). This occurs when the vowel u sounds like you.

We put a before words beginning with the other letters of the alphabet called consonants (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z). But some words do not follow this rule. For example, you put an (not a) before these words that begin with h. You would notice that h is not pronounced in these words.

We put the before a countable noun when there is only one or when we are referring to a particular one.

We can use numbers or quantity words with countable nouns.

Uncountable Nouns

Some nouns are called uncountable nouns or non-count nouns. They are called uncountable nouns because they are words for things we cannot count.

We can put words like a piece of before uncountable nouns, and use them as countable nouns.

We can use numbers and quantities with these words to show the plural form.

Videos

Countable And Uncountable Nouns
This is a grammar lesson on countable and uncountable nouns. It describes the difference between nouns that we can count and those that are uncountable. It also demonstrates how we use the article "a/an" with countable and uncountable nouns.

Count And Non-Count Nouns
This video gives s brief introduction to count and non-count nouns. ESL learners must master this before they can properly use articles and modifiers with nouns.

Nouns – Countable and Uncountable Nouns

English Grammar – Articles – A, An,The
This English lesson teaches you how to use 'a', 'an', and 'the' correctly. Many English students make mistakes with these simple words (articles), so make sure you learn how to use them correctly.

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