🎯 Why This Matters
Correct selection of much/many and is/are.
Grammatical accuracy in describing food, materials, abstractions.
🇪🇸 The Challenge
Category mismatch. In Spanish/Italian, words like 'news' (noticias) or 'advice' (consejos) are plural/countable. In English, they are strictly uncountable.
🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 False friends in countability
Problem: Many Spanish countable nouns are uncountable in English
Watch out: Saying 'informations', 'advices', 'furnitures', 'researches'
✅ Fix: Memorize the common uncountables: information, advice, furniture, research, news, homework, work, money
🧠 Mental Note: These words NEVER get 's' in English, even though Spanish equivalents do
🇪🇸 Same uncountable traps
Problem: Spain Spanish has the same countable nouns that are uncountable in English
Watch out: 'Noticias' (plural) but 'news' (singular uncountable)
✅ Fix: NEWS is singular! 'The news IS good' (not 'are')
🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)
The Counting Test
If you can't put 'one' or 'two' in front of it naturally, it's probably uncountable.
🗣️ Pronunciation Guide
How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:
Much vs Many
Spanish Habit: Confusing which to use
English Reality: Much /mʌtʃ/ for uncountable, Many /ˈmeni/ for countable
Examples:
- How much? → /haʊ mʌtʃ/ (for money, time, water)
- How many? → /haʊ ˈmeni/ (for things you can count)
Practice: Before speaking, ask: Can I count this? Yes = many, No = much
📖 How It Works
Teacher Recommendation: Self-study friendly
Time Investment: 3 hours
🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)
These words/phrases appear with this structure:
| English | Spanish | Example |
|---|---|---|
| much | mucho (incontable) | much water, much time, much money |
| many | muchos (contable) | many books, many people, many cars |
| a lot of | mucho/muchos | works with both: a lot of water / a lot of books |
| some | algo de / algunos | some water (uncountable) / some books (countable) |
| a piece of | un/una (para incontables) | a piece of advice, a piece of information |
💬 Real Examples
Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:
Example 1: Information is uncountable
✅ CORRECT: "I need some information."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Necesito alguna información."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "I need an information. / I need informations."
Why wrong? INFORMATION is always uncountable in English (no 'a', no plural 's')
Example 2: Advice is uncountable
✅ CORRECT: "She gave me some advice."
🇪🇸 Translation: "Ella me dio algunos consejos."
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "She gave me an advice. / She gave me advices."
Why wrong? ADVICE is uncountable. 'Consejos' is countable in Spanish, but not in English!
Example 3: Much vs Many
✅ CORRECT: "How much money? / How many dollars?"
🇪🇸 Translation: "¿Cuánto dinero? / ¿Cuántos dólares?"
❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "How many money? / How much dollars?"
Why wrong? MUCH = uncountable (money), MANY = countable (dollars)
✏️ Practice Exercises
Ready to test your understanding? Let's practice!