BEGINNER ENGLISH Lesson 09
for English Language Learners (ELL) – those learning to speak English as a Second Language (ESL), or English as an Additional Language (EAL)
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COUNTABLE and UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS
or COUNT and NON-COUNT nouns
Lesson 09 – What is a COUNTABLE NOUN?
A COUNTABLE NOUN is a person, place or thing that can be counted.
If you do not know if a noun is countable, ask yourself, “How many?” If it’s possible to answer with a number, then the noun is countable.
Examples of countable nouns:
- one car
- two cups
- three lessons
- four pens
- five boys
- six girls
- seven books
- eight bananas
- nine courses
- ten minutes
Remember: If you don’t know the meaning of a word, look it up in a dictionary or use Google Translate.
Important things to learn about COUNTABLE NOUNS.
Notice that in the list above, all the nouns except for car (i.e., one car) have an s at the end. When the quantity is more than one, you must change the noun to a plural form.
There are rules for plural forms which you will learn at the intermediate level.
When a noun is singular (i.e., there is only one thing), the noun requires a determiner (e.g., a, an, or the) to come before it.