We use a few and a little to mean "not very much" or "not very many". Whether you use a few or a little depends on what type of noun you are describing.
For example, "A few people came to the party." We use a few with plural, countable nouns.
"There's a little coffee left, if you would like some." We use a little with uncountable nouns.
We can also use few and little (without "a") for a more negative meaning. For example, "there's little point in calling" (= there's not much point calling).
"Few people understand" (not many people understand), compared to "a few people understand" (some people understand).
In spoken English, we can also say not many, or only a few to mean "few" and "only a little" or "not much" to mean "little".
When we make comparisons, we use fewer for plural nouns and less for uncountable nouns.
For example, "There are fewer people here than last year" or "he drinks less coffee than I do".
3 comments on “Using Few / Little in English”
is right to say : few rain or a little rain
"A little rain" is correct.
It has a good explanation about the use of a few and a little. However, is it right to say " she uses few jewelry", or would it be correct to say "she uses little jewelry"?
She uses little jewellery. (Jewellery is an uncountable noun)
Or
She wears few pieces of jewellery.
With uncountable words like "jewellery" you can make them countable in meaning by using "a piece of" or "pieces of":
Can you give me some information? (Information in general)
Can you give me a piece of information? (Just one thing)
The problem is that it's rather difficult for me to understand whether a noun is countable or not. Jewellery for instance is countable for me. In other words I can count all my jewellery :) So I have to remember which noun is uncountable…
This is a good point! Sometimes you do have to learn which noun is uncountable, but there are a couple of guidelines:
a) If the noun is a concept word (like "life") they are uncountable unless you specify them in some way
b) If the noun is "mass" (i.e. not one distinct thing, but made up of a quantity of parts) it is uncountable. For example, "oil" is not one molecule, but many. "Jewellery" is another example of this: your jewellery collection is made up of many pieces.