Cuantificadores: Uso de "a few", "a little" y "a bit" en Inglés

Clase 21 de 26 • Curso de Inglés Intermedio B1: Descripción de Eventos y Preferencias

Resumen

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A bit, a little y a few son cuantificadores que sirven para referirse a cantidades pequeñas. A few se utiliza para sustantivos contables. A bit y a little se utiliza para sustantivos incontables. Los tres cuantificadores son sinónimos de some.

Ejemplos usando a few

I had a few ideas for the project.
She brought a few apples, so I can make a pie.
They spent a few days in New York last year.

Ejemplos usando a little o a bit

There is a little milk left. You don’t need to buy more.
Of course, you can have a bit of cake.
He has a little time to rest.

Ejercicio de writing

Escribe cinco oraciones usando los cuantificadores a few, a little o a bit.

Contribución creada por Andrés Guano.

Diana Berenice Torres Vázquez

student•

I have a few things to give him.
She wants to buy a few pieces of bread for the dinner.
I want to read a few articles about technology.
There is a little butter for doing the cake, isn't necessary to buy more.
I need to eat a bit of meat.

Darwin Josué Flores López

student•

cool, thanks!

Jose Francisco Melara Aguirre

student•

Catherine Guevara

student•

There is a bit of water on my glass
I just need a few tools to draw a portait
Sara brought a few fruits to make a cake
There is just a little of coconut oil on the bottle

5.A few of my classmates have their own car

Darwin Josué Flores López

student•

interesting

Carlos Reyes Hernandez

student•

No entiendo por que esta respuesta está incorrecta. ¿Pueden ayudarme a enterder porque?

How much sugar would you like in your coffee? Select the best answer.

Answer: A little of sugar

Nairo Cuadrado

student•

Hola Tambien tengo la misma duda en esa pregunta, lo que yo creo y consulte en Internet es que bit se puede usar para items mas pequeños en este caso los granitos de azucar.

Tome esta definicion de Internet:

""Bit" es una forma de "bit", un sustantivo que se puede traducir como "el pedazo". "Little" es un adjetivo que se puede traducir como "pequeño". Aprende más sobre la diferencia entre "bit" y "little" a continuación."

Jonathan Alfonso

student•

Yo también respondí lo mismo y vine a revisar porque había sido error. Al ver los ejemplos me di cuenta que "A little" se usa sin "of" después. El ejemplo que pone es There is a little milk left. You don't need to buy more. En cambio al usar "A bit" si se usa el "of". El ejemplo es: Of cors you can have a bit of cake. Supongo que en el caso de la respueste de la respuesta del examen para que sea correcta debería ser "A little sugar" , y por lo tanto la única que es correcta es "A bit of sugar"

Jesús Emmanuel López Guerrero

student•

It had always been difficult for me to understand why money is not contable unitl I get at this class. great course, really :D

Jerson Mosquera Pretelt

student•

Because the word "money" is the generic word for all kind the active that you can transfer. The specific words are bills or coins, that you can count them.

Heber Reanda

student•

I only have a little of Coca-Cola in my glass.
I have a few pencils in my desk.
I have a bit of bread for my 5 minutes pomodoro rest.
I understand a little more of English, thanks to this course.
My cellphone only have a little of charge.

Diego Alejandro Moreno Pedroza

student•

Great work!!!

Roberto Pérez Favela

Team Platzi•

My iPad has a little charge left. There is a little ice cream in the fridge. Can you buy a few apples please? I'm a bit nervous to be honest. I want a few of those too.

Adriana Godoy Figueroa

student•

Interesting!

Santiago García Rincón

student•

if I want to say "" con un poco de azucar, gracias" the right way to say it is

with a little sugar, thank you
with a bit sugar, thank you Aand why is it correct with one and not with the other ?

Irving Juárez

student•

It depends, because in some countries the sugar units are little cubes. In that case you can say

With 2 of sugar, please

. However in Latam that doesn't happen, therefore, you can say:

With a little of sugar
With some sugar pls
With a bit of sugar

. In conclusion, your 2 options are correct, because it's uncountable, but it depends, for sure

Jonathan Alfonso

student•

In the teacher's example, he don't use "of" after "little", I think that the correct sentence is "A little sugar" not "A little of sugar"

Alejandro Castellanos

student•

i have a quiestion, why cake in the example is an uncontable noun? But cake, it's not a contable noun, because i can say: plz give me 2 cakes, or in other words, you can know that a word is contable if you can use the prural form of the word!

Plz could you give a light, because now i confuse.

Brayan Lopez

student•

That´s interesting because cake can be a countable noun when you´re talking about a phisical cake, like a weeding cake. But it´s uncountable when you talk about cake as a concept, for example: there are cake on the table; in that case cake could be three, five or a few pieces of cake.

Johan Arturo

student•

My question is, when is necesary to put the "of" after "a bit/ a little"? in my mind is always mandatory, but I can tell that is not totally true

Giuseppe Ramirez

student•

Is not mandatory. You can use others connectors. :)

Ruy Gadiel Rivera Perez

student•

A Bit/ A little/ A few

Quantify

Countables and uncountables

A few -Count quantities -Some/small amount -Countable nouns

I had **a few **ideas for the project. She brought a few apples so I can make a pie. They spent **a few **days in New York last year.

A little/ a bit

-Mass(uncountable)
-Some/small amount
-Uncountable nouns

There is a little milk left. You don't need to buy more. Of course you can have a bit of cake. He has a little time to rest.

Franco Chalacan

student•

I had a few oranges during this course, but know I think I am in the mood for a bit of coffee.

Stephanie Alexandra Callejas Escobar

student•

There is a little of water in the bottle

The sun has gone out a few minutes this morning

I was cleaning my laptop, and it had a bit of dust

My crocs are a little dirty

Pepito won’t be able to buy her a huge gift. He has only a few coins in his bucket

Clara Gomez

student•

I have read a few books this year

There are a few chairs, but there aren't enough

It is snowing a little

Don't you feel a little angry?

These pants fit me a bit large

María José Hidalgo León

student•

When do we have to use bit and when we use little? and ckeck this question please

ANGELA GINETH MARTIN GOMEZ

student•

why is incorrect say: " I want a little of suggar"

Valentina Carranza Collazos

student•

what is the difference to say a little, bit, or the complete sentence "a little bit "?

Carlos Eduardo Céspedes Angulo

student•

Hi! When we use "little," "bit," "a little bit," alone, they all mean "a small amount". However, "little bit" serves to emphasize how small is that amount/part/piece.

Example:

Vale: He's a bit angry (meaning the fair amount / fairly angry).
Miguel: No, he's only a little bit angry (Not as angry as you can think, Vale). ;)

Sergio Jurado Casado

student•

Not subtitles activated for whose We're beggining with English?

Carlos Eduardo Céspedes Angulo

student•

Hi, Sergio! Thanks for your comment! We will have the subtitles for this course very soon. ;)

Michael Aguillón

student•

Countable

Uncountable

Tricky nouns

Emmanuel Chávez Mera

student•

my examples:

there're a little of rain outside my room. my mother said me; bring a few apples to here. i think my mother has worked in our lunch for a bit of time.

Miguel Ángel Chávez Mera

student•

Nice dude!

Maycq jackson Mendoza hurtado

student•

In my around there are a little of things messy. In my cup there are a bit of coffee left.