Language/French/Grammar/Mass-versus-count-nouns
What are count nouns?
Count nouns identify individual entities, and usually have both singular and plural forms.
What's a Mass Noun?
A Mass Noun refer to something that cannot be counted (e.g. a substance or quality) and typically has only a singular form (although some mass nouns only have a plural form):
Examples
| Typical count nouns | Typical mass nouns | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| French | Translation | French | Translation |
| une bouteille | a bottle | de l'air | air |
| des bouteilles | bottles | du beurre | butter |
| un chien | a dog | de l'eau | water |
| des chiens | dogs | du gâteau | cake |
| une personne | a person | des gens | people |
| des personnes | people | du sable | sand |
Mass nouns in French are usually accompanied by the partitive article - du, de V, de la or des - in those cases where English has 'some' or no article at all:
- Je voudrais du lait, s'il vous plaît
I would like some milk, please
- II y a du vin dans le placard
There's wine in the cupboard
“personnes” and “gens”
“personnes” and “gens”, both of which mean 'people', differ in their uses because personne is a count noun and gens a mass noun. Only personne can be preceded by a number (e.g. cinq), or the quantifiers plusieurs 'several', quelques 'a few', un certain nombre de 'a certain number of:
- Les cinq personnes (NOT
gens) qui ont mangé avec nous
The five people who ate with us
- Plusieurs personnes (NOT
gens) sont restées tout l'après-midi
Several people stayed for the whole afternoon
By the same token, gens is preferred in contexts where 'people' are treated as a mass:
- Les gens (NOT
personnes) n'aiment pas rester à table trop longtemps
People don't like to spend too long over a meal
NB: gens can be preceded by beaucoup de 'many', peu de 'few', tous les 'all the' and la plupart des 'most'.
Mass nouns used countably
Some mass nouns can be used countably to refer to specific examples of the substance in question:
| French | Translation |
|---|---|
| les vins de France | the wines of Trance |
| les Eaux et Forêts | the Trench Torestry Commission |
| les fromages de Normandie | the cheeses of Normandy |
| un pain | a loaf of bread |
| un petit pain | a bun |
Some count nouns can also be used as mass nouns:
| French | Translation |
|---|---|
| Prenez du poulet | Have some chicken |
| Il met du citron dans tout | He puts lemon in everything |