(Té gaires amics?)
Els quantificadors més comuns són: many, much, a lot of, lots of, (a) few, (a) little.
Countable |
Uncountable |
many |
much |
(a) few |
(a) little |
a lot of, lots of |
|
Many i much es troben més aviat en frases negatives i preguntes, p. ex.:
| Has she got many friends? (Té gaires amics?) |
| She hasn't got many friends. (No té gaires amics.) |
| Is there much food in the fridge? (Hi ha gaire menjar a la nevera?) |
| There isn't much food in the fridge. (No hi ha gaire menjar a la nevera.) |
En canvi, a lot (of) o lots (of) es troba més aviat en afirmacions positives, p. ex.:
| She's got a lot of friends. (Té molts amics.) |
| She's got lots of friends. (Té molts amics.) |
| There's a lot of food in the house. (Hi ha molt menjar a casa.) |
| There's lots of food in the house. (Hi ha molt menjar a casa) |
Few (= not many) i little (= not much) són més formals, p. ex.:
| She's got few friends. (Té pocs amics.) |
| There is little food in the fridge. (Hi ha poc menjar a la nevera.) |
Tanmateix a few (uns quants) i a little (una mica de) no són expressions formals, p. ex.:
| There were a few children in the park. (Hi havia uns quants nens al parc.) |
| I ate a little cheese. (Vaig menjar una mica de formatge.) |