How to Count the Uncountable

I can imagine you have sometimes found uncountable nouns frustrating. You long[1] to quantify them, don’t you? You yearn[1] to put a number in front of furniture! Well, my friends, I am going to fulfill[2] your desires! It’s really quite simple. All you need to count the uncountable is a unit. A unit? Yes, a unit; a word that represents a group. Fortunately, units or groups can be counted. For example, you can say:

one piece of furniture, two pieces of furniture, etc.

one set of furniture, two sets of furniture, etc.

Basically, all you need is a number + the unit(s) + of + uncountable noun.

Isn’t that nice?! Now you only need to know which unit belongs to which uncountable noun. So, I’ll introduce you to more units with this little exercise below. Match the units in the left column with an uncountable food item in the right. There may be more than one possibility! The answers, along with some definitions, can be found in the comments below.

1 a bag of                       a beer
2 a bottle of                    b bread
3 a bowl of                      c cake
4 a can of                       d cheese
5 a carton of                   e coffee
6 a cup of                       f ice-cream
7 a head of                     g lettuce
8 a loaf of                       h milk
9 a piece of                      i rice
10 a pinch of                    j salt
11 a pint of                     k soup
12 a plate of                    l spaghetti
13 a slice of                   m sugar
14 a spoonful of              n wine

Since I made you suffer through the unit quiz, I guess I should mention that it has become acceptable to count uncountable nouns without units! It’s customary to do so with beverages. For example:

Can we have three coffees, please?

I drank three beers last night, and now I have a headache.

In some cases, we can get away with counting uncountable nouns by using them as adjectives in front of a unit. For example:

She ate 3 chocolate bars!

Would you like 1 sugar cube or 2 in your coffee?

Well, that’s all for now. I hope this lesson has come as a relief. From now on… count it loud and count it proud[3]!

[1] anhelar
[2] cumplir
[3] en voz alta y con orgullo