HOW MANY – HOW MUCH

Countable and Uncountable Nouns

Countable nouns are nouns that can be counted individually, while uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be counted separately:

Countable: bread, potato, apple, cherry, tomato, banana, chicken

Uncountable: milk, coffee, sugar, rice, water, money

We use ‘how many’ to ask about the quantity of countable nouns:

How many tickets do you have?

How many apples did you eat?

How many brothers do you have?

We use ‘how much’ to ask about the quantity of uncountable nouns:

How much milk would you like?

How much flour will you use?

How much is this piano?

Note: Some words that seem countable, like ‘money’, are actually uncountable because they represent a type or value of currency.

How much does it cost?

How much do you eat a day?

How many people do you know in this city?

How many types of fish…?

How much time…?

How much food…?

How much water…?