Quantity
How many or how much is there?
المعنى
Quantity tells us how many things there are or how much of something there is. It can give an exact number, a rough amount, or a measured portion. Languages use number words, amount words, or measuring phrases, even if they have no special endings for quantity. Unlike One or more, Quantity can give a number or an amount rather than just distinguish one from several.
طريقة التعرّف عليه
Look for a number, an amount word, or a measuring phrase that answers how many or how much.
في اللغة الأم
Arabic expresses quantity with number words, amount words, and units of measurement. With numbers from three to ten, the number has the opposite gender to the counted noun's singular form, and the counted noun is plural. Other numbers have different patterns, while measured amounts can use unit nouns such as lītr 'liter.'
اِشْتَرَيْتُ ثَلَاثَةَ كُتُبٍ. (Ishtaraytu thalāthata kutubin.)
Kitāb is masculine, so the number takes the form thalātha.
اِشْتَرَيْتُ ثَلَاثَ مَجَلَّاتٍ. (Ishtaraytu thalātha majallātin.)
Majalla is feminine, so the number takes the form thalāth.
أَحْتَاجُ إِلَى لِتْرٍ مِنَ الْحَلِيبِ. (Aḥtāju ilā litrin mina al-ḥalībi.)
A unit noun makes the amount of a substance measurable.
في اللغة قيد التعلم
English uses numbers and amount words such as some, many, and much. Many goes with plural countable nouns, which name things counted one by one, while much goes with uncountable nouns, such as milk, which are not normally counted that way. Units and containers let speakers count portions of an uncountable noun, as in two bags of rice.
We need six chairs.
The number gives an exact quantity, and chairs is plural.
There isn't much milk left.
Much is used with the uncountable noun milk.
I bought two bags of rice.
The bags are counted, while rice stays unchanged.
Learners whose language keeps nouns singular after numbers may leave out the plural ending in English. Learners whose language does not make the same distinction between countable and uncountable nouns may confuse many and much.