PE-70: few vs a few, little vs a little
One tiny article changes your whole attitude: 'a few friends' is cheerful, 'few friends' is sad. Learn the difference and the countable split.
PE-70: few vs a few, little vs a little
Look at these two sentences:
"I have a few friends here." — cheerful; I'm fine.
"I have few friends here." — lonely; I wish I had more.
One three-letter word, and the whole mood of the sentence flips. This is a small piece of grammar that carries a large amount of feeling — and exams love it.
In this lesson you will learn
- a few / a little — positive: "some, and that's enough"
- few / little — negative: "almost none, unfortunately"
- Which pair goes with countable and which with uncountable nouns
- The surprise of quite a few
1. The four words in one grid
| Countable (books, friends) | Uncountable (time, water) | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive "some — enough" |
a few I have a few friends. |
a little I have a little time. |
| Negative "almost none" |
few I have few friends. |
little I have little time. |
There's a little milk left — enough for tea. — There's little milk left — we need to buy some.
Bir oz sut qolgan — choyga yetadi. — Sut juda kam qolgan — sotib olish kerak.
The same amount, two different attitudes.
2. The countable / uncountable half
This half is mechanical — it is the same split you learned in PE-2. Few counts; little measures.
few / a few + plural countable
- a few books · a few people
- a few days · a few questions
little / a little + uncountable
- a little water · a little money
- a little time · a little help
I have a little friends.
I have a few friends.
We have a few time before the lesson.
We have a little time before the lesson.
3. Making the negative stronger
Because the bare forms already sound negative, English strengthens them with very. This is extremely common — in fact very few and very little are heard far more often than few and little alone.
Very few students passed the test. — She has very little experience.
Juda kam oʻquvchi testdan oʻtdi. — Uning tajribasi juda kam.
4. The surprise: quite a few
Logic would suggest that quite a few means "not many". It means the opposite — quite a lot.
Quite a few people came to the concert. (= a good number, more than expected)
Konsertga ancha koʻp odam keldi.
Compare: a few people came (some) · few people came (almost nobody).
5. a few / a little as answers
Both can stand alone in short answers, which makes them very handy in conversation:
— Do you speak Korean? — A little.
— How many friends do you have there? — A few.
— Koreys tilida gapirasizmi? — Bir oz. — U yerda nechta doʻstingiz bor? — Bir nechta.
6. Common mistakes
I have little friends in this city. (if you mean "some")
I have a few friends in this city.
Can I have a few water, please?
Can I have a little water, please?
Quite a few people came, so the hall was almost empty.
Few people came, so the hall was almost empty.
He has a little money, so he can't buy it.
He has little money, so he can't buy it.
There were a few informations in the article.
There was a little information in the article.
Practice
1 Choose: Don't worry, we still have ? time before the bus leaves.
Show answer
a little — time is uncountable, and Don't worry shows the feeling is positive.
2 Choose: Unfortunately, ? students came to the extra lesson.
Show answer
few (or very few) — Unfortunately tells you the feeling is negative, and students are countable.
3 What is the difference? (a) I have a little money. (b) I have little money.
Show answer
(a) Some — enough for what I need. (b) Almost none — I'm short of money.
4 True or false: "Quite a few people liked it" means very few people liked it.
Show answer
False. Quite a few means quite a lot — a surprising number liked it.
5 Fill both gaps: I've made ? mistakes, but I need ? more practice.
Show answer
a few … a little. Mistakes are countable; practice is uncountable.
Key words — Kalit soʻzlar
- A fewbir nechta
- Fewjuda kam
- A littlebir oz
- Littlejuda kam
- Quite a fewancha koʻp
- Unfortunatelyafsuski
- Attitudemunosabat
- Experiencetajriba
- Emptyboʻsh
- To be short ofyetishmaslik
🎯 Remember this
- a few / a little = some, and it's enough — positive feeling.
- few / little = almost none — negative feeling.
- few counts (friends) · little measures (time, water).
- Strengthen with very few / very little; in speech, not many / not much.
- quite a few means quite a lot — not few at all.