2.10 Many, much, a lot (of), (a) few, (a) little

These expressions are used before a noun and also without a noun. The forms are:

	Countable plural	Uncountable
Before a noun	many chairs	much food
	a lot of chairs	a lot of food
	(a) few chairs	(a) little food
Without a noun	many	much
	a lot	a lot
	(a) few	(a) little

Many and much are more common in questions and negatives; we tend to use a lot (of) in positive statements, e.g.:

A: Have you found many mistakes? (Has descobert molts errors?)

B: No, there aren't many. (No, no n'hi ha gaires.)

She has a lot of friends in Germany.
(Té molts amics a Alemanya.)

C: Did they use much paint? (Van gastar molta pintura?)

D: Yes, they used a lot. (Sí, en van gastar molta.)

Notice the difference between a few, a little and few, little, e.g.:

a few letters (unes quantes cartes)

few letters (poques cartes)

a little food (un mica de menjar)

little food (poc menjar)

Few and little are formal; informally we tend to use not many and not much, e.g.:

Not many people came.
(No va venir molta gent.)

We haven't seen many films this year.
(No hem vist moltes pel·lícules aquest any.)

They didn't bring much luggage.
(No van portar gaire equipatge.)

The comparative and superlative forms are:

	Comparative	Superlative
many cats	more cats (than)	(the) most cats
much food	more food (than)	(the) most food
few cats	fewer/less¹ cats (than)	(the) fewest cats
little food	less food (than)	(the) least food

1 Less is common with countable nouns, but some people consider it ungrammatical.

They don't have more money than us.
(No tenen més diners que nosaltres.)

Can most dogs swim?
(La majoria dels gossos saben nedar?)

Nowadays couples have fewer/less* children.
(Avui dia les parelles tenen menys fills.)

The least one can do is to offer help.
(El mínim que un pot fer és oferir ajuda.)

See also comparative and superlative of adjectives.