en.yj
my friend John went fishing and he caught three fish!!

i have a question about countable and uncountable nouns.

why three fish? 

is "three fishes" correct too?

if fish is uncountable here, why do we use "three"?

Oct 31, 2014 8:34 AM
Comments · 8
4

In this sentence fish IS countable. One fish, two fish, three fish...

 

The singular form of the word (one fish) and the plural (three fish) are indentical. It's the same as 'sheep': we say 'one sheep' or 'a hundred sheep'. The form doesn't change.

 

The more regular form 'fishes' exists, but it is very rarely used. You might see it in some old texts, such as in the Bible or Shakespeare.

 

These days 'fishes' is only used by little children, but after the age of 3 or 4 they stop saying it.

 

 

 

 

October 31, 2014
2

Although 'fishes' is <em>technically </em>a word, it's used very rarely and a lot of native speakers will tell you it isn't even a word. As Su Ki said, small children sometimes use it (as well as "sheeps" or "havved" (instead of "had")) because they're applying a general rule to an exception. If you say "fishes" to talk about multiple species of fish, most native speakers would probably just think you made a mistake, even though you're technically correct! It's similar with "persons" instead of "people" (which is even more obscure). It's never wrong to say "fish" instead of "fishes", so you're probably better off just doing that and understanding what "fishes" means when you encounter it.

October 31, 2014
2

The reference Ben posted is exactly the way they are used where I am from in the US. "Fishes" refers to different species.

Answering your question of "why?" ... unfortunatly, many of us who speak English natively are not sure why some of these exceptions exist. English, unlike the other languages I have studied or speak to some degree, is full of exceptions with no explanation. In this case, words such as fish, moose, deer, or sheep can be plural or singluar while other nouns such as dog, cat, pebble, or rock must have an 'S' added to make them plural. Still other words change the stem to become plural. Examples would be goose (singluar) - geese (plural). There is even one more where nouns that end in "us" can change the ending to 'i' to become plural: Example: Octopus (singluar) octopi (plural). There are explanations to some of those, but they're not explanations that help a learner who is trying to find an association or a rule he/she can use.

 

I'm a native English speaker, and I am SO GLAD I didn't have to learn English as my second language. In my opinion, English is a hodge-podge, filled with more exceptions than rules, and I can see that as making it very difficult to learn. Fortunately, I have not had that situation in the languages I have studied later in life.

I didn't mean to discourage, though :). Good luch and enjoy. :)

October 31, 2014
1

I wouldn't worry about it unless you are in a situation where you need to write strictly correct English. If it's easy for you to learn to say "three fish," say it that way. If it's not, don't worry about it. 

 

If someone said to me "I caught three fishes" I'd <em>understand</em> them instantly. If it were said with a trace of a foreign accent I wouldn't notice it. If someone said it in perfect U.S. English I'm <em>still</em> not sure I'd notice it. 

 

Don't look for logic. If you change the <em>kind</em> of fish, the relationship between singular and plural changes!

 

I caught three fish.

I caught three bass.

BUT... I caught three stripers. (A striper is a kind of bass). 

I cooked three trout.

I saw three sharks.

I saw three salmon.

I ate three eels.

There are three tetras in my aquarium.

There are three guppies in my aquarium.

 

Some kinds of animal names are mass nouns, some are countable nouns.

 

I see three deer.

I see three rabbits.

I see three penguins.

I see three quail.

I see three bluejays.

 

Some have special irregular forms for the plural:

One mouse, two mice. 

 

Be just a little bit skeptical about collective nouns. Many animals do have special names for a collection--a flock of birds, a herd of cattle, a pack of wolves. But people have had a little bit too much fun researching and collecting weird historical collective nouns. But does anyone ever really speak about a murmuration of starlings, an exaltation of larks, or a galaxy of maidens, except when they are talking about collective nouns?

November 1, 2014
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