Countable nounA part of speech that names a person, place or thing. E.g.: The koala is a marsupial. ("koala", "marsupial")s can be counted (a/one book, two books, a lot of books), whereas uncountable nouns cannot (a/one news, two freedoms); therefore, they only have singular forms and are followed by singular verbA part of speech that expresses an action or a state. E.g.: John seldom plays tennis.s. Bear in mind that there are nouns which are countable in other languages but uncountable in English, and vice versa. When in doubt, you should always consult a dictionary. However, certain kinds of nouns are usually countable or uncountable in English:

Countable nouns

• persons (a teacher, a child, a widow)
• animals (a cockroach, an elephant)
• plants (a bush, a lily, a tree)
• physical objectA person or thing that is affected by the action of a verb or involved in the result of an action.s (a bag, a pen, a mountain)
• units (a litre (of), a kind of, a part of, a family, a village, a word)

Uncountable nouns

• abstract ideas (love, death, fear, beauty)
• gases (smoke, air, phosgene, steam)
• liquids (water, milk, whiskey, blood)
• substances and materials (wood, iron, ore, textile, cream)
• other substances consisting of many small particleA word that is joined to the verb in a phrasal verb. E.g.: He is looking after his ageing parents. ("after")s (sugar, rice, sand, gunpowder)

Countable and uncountable nouns
Countable and uncountable nouns Nouns with countable and uncountable meanings