“You have much apples. I don’t eat many fruits.” Wait, that doesn’t sound, correct?

Forming full English sentences that are grammatically correct can be challenging especially if you are not a native English speaker. 

That is why all English language learners must know how to correctly use “much” and “many” to avoid using them incorrectly like in the first sentence. Remember, when your grammar improves the rest of your English language skills will follow!

Why do people confuse “much” and “many”?

Before we look at the difference, let’s have a brief look at how they are similar. Both “much” and “many” are determiners that help modify the noun which makes it understandable that people use them interchangeably.

When to use “much”?

The determiner “much” is used when you are describing or talking about nouns that you cannot count. They are also referred to as mass nouns. Some examples of mass nouns are rice, happiness, anger, milk, etc. Something to remember when using “much” is that the noun can never be plural. It must always be singular!

Here are some example sentences to help better explain:

"How much juice do you drink?"

"I don’t have much time today."

"Your body language is much better than your spoken language."

When to use “many”?

When we want to talk about things, we can count, such as books, plates, ideas, etc. we use the word “many” because this determiner is used to describe countable nouns. A few helpful tips you should remember are:

• When using the determiner “many” in a sentence, the noun will never be singular but rather plural.
• “many” can be used as an adjective or a determiner!

Now, let’s have a look at some examples:

"How many pairs of socks do you have?"

"I don’t know many good movies to improve English."

Something important to remember when you want to use the word “many” is that it can also be used for noncountable nouns. BUT only if you are referring to different types of measuring quantities. 

Here are some example sentences to help you better understand:

"How many cups of water do you need?"

"John accidentally put too many teaspoons of sugar in his tea this morning."

When we look at these sentences, we can clearly see that “many” is referring to something we cannon count but there is a type of measurement given. The measurement in the first sentence is the underlined word, cups, and in the second sentence, it is teaspoons.

If all else fails, then just remember:

If you cannot count the noun then you will use “much”, but if you can count the noun then you must use “many”.