Talking About Quantity in English - A FEW, A LITTLE, FEW, LITTLE

Hi, this is Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on when to use "a few"

and "few" or "a little" and "little." Now, the differences are actually a little difficult,

but after this lesson I think you should have a good grasp of it. So, we have a couple of

different sentences. So, there are two levels to the rules here. So, first we're going to

talk about when do we use "a few" and "few," and when do we use "a little" and "little,"

and afterwards I'm going to tell you about which one is positive and which one is negative.

So, here we have, "I read a few pages." Okay, so the word "pages," this is a count noun.

It's a plural count noun, right? So, you can have one page, you can have two pages. Again,

you can have oranges, lemons, anything you can count, you would use "a few" or "few,"

okay? So, for "few" and "a few," we only use them for plural count nouns. So, again, if

you can count it and it's more than one, you can use "a few" or "few." Now, you use "little."

"I drank a little water." "Water" is a non-count noun. So, again, as in past lessons, we've

mentioned that you cannot count water, right? You cannot fill your bathtub with water and

say one water, two waters, three waters, or electricity, one electricity, two electricities.

If you cannot count it, then you use "a little" or "little," okay? So, we use "little" or

"a little" for non-count nouns. Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, we can actually

get to the meanings of when you use "few" versus when you use "little." So, here I have

four sentences and two of them match. I have a little money. I have little money. I have

a few lemons. I have few lemons. So, what is the difference between these? So, let's

look at these two first of all, okay? So, if I say, "I have a little money." So, if

I go into my pocket, I have a little money. I have some money. It's positive, right? I

don't have zero. I have some. So, I have a little money. If I say, "I have a few lemons."

So, if I go over here, and if I have some lemons, say, "I have a few lemons." I have

some. I don't have zero. This is a positive statement, okay? So, we use "a little" and

"a few" when we're talking, when we want to seem positive about having something. You

know, we don't have zero. We have some. It's okay. We have a little bit at least. Okay?

So, these are both positive. I have some. And we're happy because we have, at least

we have some. Okay? Here, if I say, "I have little money." Or, "I have few lemons." Again,

I have little money. So, again, if I reach in my pocket, take out some change, I don't

have a lot of money. I have little money. Not a lot. Okay? Just like if I say, "I have

few lemons," instead of "a few lemons." Okay? I have few lemons. I don't have a lot of lemons.

I only have three lemons. I wish I had six lemons, but I don't. So, I'm very sad. So,

if you say, "I have little" or "I have few," it's negative. You're not happy. You wish

you had more. Okay? You don't have a lot. So, give me one moment. So, this is negative.

And this says that I don't have, I don't have a lot. Okay? I apologize for the writing being

a little slanted there. Okay. So, just to review the couple of rules that we've learned

here today. When you want to use "few" or "a few," you can only use them with plural

count nouns. So, again, "I read a few pages," you know, "of a book." Whereas, if you're

using "little" or "a little," you use those for non-count nouns. So, "I drank a little

water." So, just, if we go down here again, I'll, you know, reinforce what I just taught

here, is, "I have a little money." You can't count money by saying, "I have one money."

"I have two monies." No, it's a non-count noun. So, we have to use "a little" or "little,"

just like we've done here. Versus here, where I say, "I have a few lemons." "I have few

lemons." I can count lemons. I can say, "one lemon," "two lemons." So, for plural count

nouns, we would use "few" or "a few." But, again, when you're saying "a little" or "a

few," "I have," "I have some." It's positive, okay? Versus if you say, "I have little money,"

or "I have few lemons," "I don't have a lot." It's a negative connotation behind that statement.

Okay, so, if you're still a little confused, or you're almost there, I highly recommend

checking out the quiz on www.engvid.com that will, you know, further strengthen your skills

in these terms. Thanks again for watching, and take care.