Countable nouns in English, plus words for animals and their meat

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This is Audio Word Study #20 from Jane Lawson at DailyStep.com.

You can see in the pictures above that the top picture is labelled ‘a cow in a field’ and the bottom picture is labelled ‘beef on a plate’. Why do we say ‘a cow’ , but just ‘beef’, not ‘a Beef’?

The reason is that we can count cows. I can say ‘there are three cows in the field’. Cows arecountable, because we are able to count them

But we can not count beef, because it is a substance. We can count pieces of beef, or steaks of beef, or kilograms of beef, but there is no such thing as ‘a beef’. Beef is uncountable, because we are not able to count it. Understanding the difference between countable nouns and uncountable nouns is an essential part of learning English.

In this  DailyStep audio word study number 20 from Dailystep.com, we are going to look at countable nouns. In the next audio word study, we will look at uncountable nouns.

Some examples of countable nouns are:

·         pig, cow, horse, bird

·         apple, cake, meal, potato

·         man, woman, child, person

·         car, bus, bicycle, train

Here are some rules about countable nouns:

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1. Countable nouns can be singular or plural.

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Examples:

The bird is flying.  (singular)

The birds are flying. (plural)

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The child is playing. (singular)

The children are playing.  (plural. note: We do not say ‘ the childs are playing’. The plural of ‘child’ is ‘children’.)

2. For singular countable nouns, we need to use an article (a, an, or the),  or a possessive adjective (my, your, his, her, its, our, their), or a demonstrative adjective  (this, that). We can also use the number one.

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Examples:

Jason is my brother. (note: we do not say ‘Jason is brother.’)

That  bag is mine.  (note: we do not say ‘Bag is mine.’)

The train is late. (note: we do not say ‘train is late.)

Whose is this book?  (note: we do not say ‘Whose is book?’)

Can I have an apple, please?  (note: we do not say ‘Can I have apple, please?)

I have one sister.

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I will explain more about how to use articles (a, an and the) in a future audio blog.

3. For plural countable nouns, we do not need to use an article.

Examples:

He likes bananas.

Horses are beautiful animals.

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4. We use some and any with countable nouns. We use any with questions and negative sentences. We use some with positive sentences.

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Examples:

Have you got any tomatoes?   (note: ‘Have you got…?’ and ‘Do you have…?’ mean the same thing.)

Yes, I have some tomatoes. (note: we can also say ‘Yes, I have got some tomatoes’.)

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Do you have any oranges?

No, I do not have any oranges. (note: we can also say ‘No, I haven’t got any oranges.’)

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5. We use many, not much, with countable nouns.

Examples:

Have you got many sisters?  (note: we do not say ‘Have you got much sisters?’)

No, I have not got many sisters.

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How many books do you have? (note: we do not say ‘How much books do you have?’)

I have very many books.

6. We use a few and few with countable nouns.

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Remember:

Few = not many

A few = some

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Examples:

He is unkind so he has few friends  (note: this means ‘He does not have many friends’)

I bought a few kilograms of carrots at the market. (note: this means ‘I bought some kilograms of carrots’)

That is all for today! In the next audio word study, I’ll tell you about uncountable nouns.

DailyStep Audio Word Study 020 - countable nouns.pdf