Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Definition

Countable nouns

These are objects that can be counted as single units. Some examples are:

a dog
a cat
a mango
a camera

Uncountable nouns

Also called "mass nouns". These are things that cannot be counted as single units. We normally need a container to measure them. Some examples are:

sand
sugar
liquids (water, milk, oil, etc.)
abstract nouns (knowledge, happiness, love, etc.)

More examples

Countable Nouns

People: man, woman, child, student, teacher, doctor, etc.
Animals: dog, cat, bird, fish, etc.
Objects: book, car, phone, computer, etc.
Some foods: apple, banana, sandwich, etc.
Places: city, park, school, restaurant, etc.

Uncountable nouns

Abstract concepts: love, fun, sadness, work, money, peace, safety, etc.
Information: advice, information, news, knowledge, etc.
Categories: music, furniture, equipment, jewelry, literature, meat, etc.
Liquids and foods that can't be counted: water, butter, rice, flour, milk, etc.
Materials: paper, iron, fabric, cotton, etc.
Other nouns that may be plural in other languages: accommodation, luggage,homework, traffic, progress, weather, behavior, work, etc.

Rules

We need to consider the following rules:

Uncountable nouns cannot not be plural.**
Uncountable nouns cannot go with "a" or "an". For example: I want a sugar, please.**
You need to use specific expressions for countable nouns, and others for uncountable nouns.

**Check the end of this explanation for exceptions.

Quantity expressions

As mentioned previously, we use specific quantity espressions for countable and uncountable nouns. Sometimes we can use certain expressions with both types. You can check the complete information here:

Quantity expressions

Countable or uncountable? Well, it depends...

Some nouns can be countable or uncountable depending on the context, or the meaning that we want to express. We have one example below. Can you guess which one is countable and which one is uncountable?

I like pineapple on my pizza.