Count and Non-Count

The Spanish Trap

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información

information · not “an information” or “informations”

muebles

furniture · not “furnitures”

consejo

advice · not “an advice” or “advices”

tarea

homework · not “homeworks”

noticias

news · singular grammar: The news is important.

equipaje

luggage · not “luggages”

In these standard meanings, the six nouns use singular non-count grammar.

Memoriza estas palabras como frases completas, no como traducciones sueltas.

Slide 10

Tips

The Spanish Trap

  1. News termina en s, pero usa gramática singular: “The news is important.”
  2. Para una unidad de los traps fijos: a piece of information/advice/luggage; an item of furniture/equipment.
  3. No todas las palabras son fijas. Compara: We ordered chicken (food, non-count) / We counted three chickens (animals, count); I wrote on paper (material, non-count) / I reviewed three papers (documents, count).