3.4 Much, many, (a) few, (a) little

Aquestes expressions es fan servir davant d'un substantiu i també com a pronoms. Les formes són:

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

Many i much es troben normalment en preguntes i frases negatives; fem servir més aviat a lot (of) en afirmacions positives, p. ex.:

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.)

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

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

Observeu la diferència entre a few, a little i few, little:

A few letters
(unes quantes cartes)

Few letters
(poques cartes)

A little food
(una mica de menjar)

Little food
(poc menjar)

A few i a little es fan servir en tots els contextos. En canvi, few i little són formals. En contextos col·loquials fem servir més aviat not many i not much, p. ex.:

Not many people came. / Few people came. (formal)
(No va venir gaire gent.)

We haven't seen many films this year. / We have seen few films this year. (formal)
(No hem vist gaires pel·lícules aquest any.)

They didn't bring much luggage. / They brought little luggage. (formal)
(No van portar gaire equipatge.)

Les formes comparativa i superlativa de much, many, few i little són:

	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 Sovint es fa servir less amb substantius comptables, però alguns consideren que aquest ús no és gramatical.

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/less¹ children.
(Avui dia les parelles tenen menys fills.)

The least I can do is to offer help.
(El mínim que puc fer és oferir ajuda.)

Vegeu també Comparative and superlative adjectives.