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Tony Patterson

Is 'bread' countable or uncountable?

Updated: Nov 14, 2021

Of all the uncountable nouns this one is one of the hardest.


Chocolate has the following countable forms:

  • whole (chocolate)

  • piece

  • bar

  • chunk


Cake has the following countable forms:

  • whole (cake)

  • slice

  • piece


So you can say:


I made cakes.

I made chocolates.

She baked ten cakes.

He eat four chocolates.


Bread does not have 'bread' as a countable form. Some countable forms are:

  • loaf

  • roll

  • baguette

  • bloomer

  • bap

  • (there are many)

but 'bread' is not one of them.


You can say: "I baked bread" but you are using it in its uncountable form. If you add a picture, you may get it wrong.


There are some real examples from English language learners:


"I just baked the bread."


Bread is being used in its uncountable form and so you can't use 'the' as the determiner. Correction:


"I just baked this bread"



"I want to make a bread."


Bread is being used in its uncountable form and so you can't use 'a' as the determiner. Correction:


"I want to make bread."


"I'm good at baking cakes and breads. I really like the breads I baked."


This one is a great example. 'Cakes' is correct because there is a countable form called 'cakes'. There is not of countable form called 'bread' so it must have no 's'. The second sentences has a determiner but it is correctly used. Why? The 'the' is referring specifically to the bread that the writer made. It still can not have the 's'. Correction:


"I'm good at baking cakes and bread. I really like the bread I baked."


Here are some sentences with countable forms of bread:


I baked two loaves of brown bread today. They were delicious.


The burger I bought came in the softest bun.


I had two rolls with my soup.


In France they love baguettes.

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