Comparing Quantity

Okay MmLLoO,

Here it goes. More often than not, nouns in English are going to be count nouns. There are simply way more of them. That said, there are 5 types of non count nouns.

1. If a noun has no distict seperate parts and we only look at the whole, it's probably a non count noun. This includes many types of food and drinks as well as substances.

Examples: milk, wine, oil, bread, yogurt, electrcity, meat, butter, water, pork, soup, air, oxygen, iron, hydrogen, coffee, water, blood, thunder, lightning, cholesterol, paper, poultry

2. Nouns that have parts that are too small or insignificant to count.

Examples: rice, hair, sand, sugar, popcorn, corn, salt, snow, grass

3. Nouns that are classes or categories of things.

Examples: money, cash, currency (nickles, dimes, dollars, euros) 

  food (vegetables, meat, spaghetti)

furniture (chairs, tables, beds)

makeup (lipstick, mascara, eye shadow)

4. Nouns that are abstractions are non count nouns.

Examples: love, life, happiness, nutrition, education, patience, poverty, luck, truth, time, beauty, crime, advice, unemployment, pollution, art

5. Nouns that are subjects of study

Examples: history, grammar, biology, chemistry, geometry

Some nouns can be both non count and count depending on the context, like a lot of food and drinks.

Order "two coffees" in a coffeeshop and it's correct because it's understood you mean "two cups of coffee."

Same with fruit. "I eat a lot of fruit everyday." (category of food = non count)

"Oranges and grapefruits are fruits that contain Vitamin C." (type of fruit = count)

There are exceptions of course, but Englsh speakers will have no trouble understanding what you mean if you make a mistake with non count and count nouns. Plus, it's cute and endearing to hear non-native speakers say "I'd like three meats."

Etwas besser?