Today we're looking at the English words 'much' and 'many'.

And when we talk about 'much' and 'many', we have to understand the difference between countable and uncountable nouns.

So, what do they mean?

So let's look at those first of all.

'Countable' means something that has a natural plural.

For example, apple/apples, orange/oranges, car/cars.

And 'uncountable' is where they don't have a natural plural, so this one word is for the singular and the plural.

For example, 'tea' we don't say 'teas', 'coffee' we don't say 'coffees', 'petrol' we don't say 'petrols', 'rice' we don't say 'rices' and so on.

Okay, so as always rice in the singular, rice in the plural.

Petrol in the singular, petrol in the plural.

So, when we're using 'much' and 'many' we use one with countable and the other with, uh, uncountable.

So, when we're talking about 'much', we use it with uncountable.

'How much rice do you have?'

'How much petrol do you want?'

And when we're using 'many', we use it with countable.

'How many apples have you got?'

'How many cars have you got?'

'How many oranges do you want?'

And another rule - just be very careful with this - when we use 'much' and 'many', we normally use those words when we're asking questions like, 'how much?' or 'how many?', and we also use them in the negative.

'I don't have much.'

'I don't have many.'

But, we don't use them in the positive.

Usually when we're talking about positives, we use the word 'a lot'.

'I have a lot of apples.'

'I have a lot of petrol.'

'I have a lot of rice.'

So when we use 'a lot' we can use it with both countable and uncountable.

So, if you ever get stuck and you don't know whether to use 'much' or 'many', always fall back to the default position of using a lot.

Okay, so as always, subscribe to our channel and join us on www.englishlessonviaskype.com, and we'll catch up with you soon.