Much or many are quantifiers. We use them to talk about the quantity of something. They both mean “a big amount” or “a big number”, but they are used with different types of nouns.
When to Use Much
Use much with uncountable nouns. Common uncountable nouns include: water, milk, coffee, money, time, information, furniture, music, and advice.
Examples
- How much water do you drink every day?
- There isn’t much milk in the fridge.
- We don’t have much time.
- How much information do you need?
- We didn’t receive much feedback.
- They don’t have much experience.
Much is most common in questions and negative sentences. If you want to express a big quantity in positive sentences, check for other quantifiers for uncountable nouns here.
When to Use Many
Use many with countable nouns. Common countable nouns include: books, cars, people, students, questions, apples, houses, and emails.
Examples
- How many students are in your class?
- There aren’t many people here today.
- How many apples do you want?
- We saw many birds in the park.
- There are many restaurants in this city.
- They asked many questions.
Like much, we mostly use many in questions and negative sentences. If you want to express a big quantity in positive sentences, check for other quantifiers for countable nouns here.
Quick Tip
Much + uncountable nouns
Compare:
- How much coffee do you drink per day?
- There isn’t much food.
Many + countable nouns
Compare:
- How many cups of coffee do you drink per day?
- There aren’t many sandwiches.
If you can count it, use many. If you cannot count it, use much.
Exercises on Much or Many
More Exercises: EnglischHilfen | Ego4u1 | Ego4u2 | Ego4u3 | Ego4u4 | English4U | AnglaisFacile1 | AnglaisFacile2 | AgendaWeb1 | AgendaWeb2 | AgendaWeb3 | AgendaWeb4 | AgendaWeb5