How Many and How Much

How Many and How Much

1. Both how much and how many are used to ask for quantities, but when is each used?

   • How Many
     • A countable noun is anything that can be counted in separate units: buildings, cars, polka dots, bottles, pencils, children, etc. With them we use how many: How many cars are there in your garage?
       • Examples:
         • 1. How many skyscrapers are there in Madrid? 2. How many banks are there in this village? 3.How many parks are there in this city?
   • How Much
     • Uncountable nouns are those that cannot be counted in individual units: water, air, light, snow, rain, iron, etc. With them we use how much: How much water is there in that glass?
       • Examples:
         • 1. How much crime is there in New York? 2. How much pollution is there in Canada? 3. How much light is there here?
   • We can ask closed questions with "much" and "many", but without "how".
     • Examples:
       • 1. Have you seen many episodes? 2. Was there much traffic on the road?
         • In negative sentences we also do not use "how".
           • 1. I haven’t seen many episodes. 2. There wasn’t much traffic on the road.

2. To know the cost of something, you can say "How much is this? ("How much is this?"), without the need to mention money

   • Examples:
     • 1. How much was your car, if you don’t mind me asking? 2. How much is a ticket to Manchester?

3. You can also use "how much" and "how many" in affirmative or negative sentences, not only in questions.

   • Affirmative: I know how much it meant to you. Negative: I’m sorry you didn’t get the job. I don’t know how many times I’ve told you to lock the door!

4. Frequent errors

   • Countable or uncountable? The most common mistake with these expressions is to confuse what is countable and what is not, such as "traffic" ("tráfico", uncountable, as opposed to "cars", "buses" and "cabs"), "money" ("dinero", also uncountable, as opposed to "euros"), or "people" (note that "people" is translated in Spanish as both "gente" and "personas", but in English it is always plural, and therefore countable).
     • Although in affirmative sentences we can use "how much" and "how many", in spoken English it is very rare to find only "much". Instead, "a lot of" or "lots of" are used. "Many" can be used in this type of sentence, although in informal contexts it is often replaced by "a lot of" or "lots of".
       • Examples
         • 1. There were lots of people at the picnic (although it would also be possible “There were many people at the picnic”). 2. There was a lot of rain.
           • Both "a lot of" and "lots of" can be combined with countable and uncountable nouns; the only difference between them is that "lots of" is considered slightly more informal.