How much? and How many? (Questions and Answers)

Grammar Rules

How much + uncountable noun 

How much(price) + be or cost

How many + plural countable noun

How much (quantity)

We use How much? with uncountable nouns. 

Examples:

• How much rice do you need?
• How much time is left?
• How much butter is in the fridge?
• How much equipment do we need for the gym?
• How much information does he know?
• How much bread do you need?
• How much gold did you find?
• How much progress did you make?
• How much traffic is on the road?
• How much smoke do you see?

The answers to these questions depends but you can usually use A lot, a little bit, or none. 

Example Answers:

How much bread do you need?

A lot.

How much gold did you find?

None,

How much traffic is on the road?

A little bit.

How much (Price)

We also use How much? when we talk about Prices and Costs

We use the verb to be or to cost.

Examples:

• How much is the sweater?
• How much does the sweater cost?
• How much is a pint of beer?
• How much does a pint of beer cost?

The answer to these questions will always be a price:

Example Answers:

How much is the sweater?

$20

How much is a pint of beer?

$2.50

How many(Quantity)

We use How many with plural countable nouns

Examples:

• How many cars are on the street?
• How many people are coming to the wedding?
• How many stars are in the sky?
• How many chairs do we need?
• How many children are in the class?
• How many books are there about Physics?
• How many brothers and sisters do you have?
• How many chefs are in the kitchen? 
• How many trees are in the forest?
• How many numbers are on a calculator?

The answer to these questions are usually numbers(or a lot if we can’t count) because we use countable nouns

Example Answers:

How many chefs are in the kitchen? 

6.

How many trees are in the forest?

A lot.

More uses of Many and Much

We use much in questions and negative sentences: 

Do you drink much tea? 

I don’t drink much tea. 

But we do not often use much in positive sentences:

Do you drink much tea? 

Yes, I drink a lot.

We use many in all types of sentences (positive/negative/question)

We have many classes. 

We don’t have many classes. 

Do you have many classes? 

When to use None

None is another answer to the questions How much? or How many? 

How much money do you have?

None. (zero) 

How many people did you meet?

None.