Is there a quick way to remember which is which?

The article is the good news. A few and a little have one and mean “enough”; few and little lack one and mean “not enough”. If you can hear the a, the sentence is positive.

What about fewer and less?

Same countable split, one level up. Fewer goes with countables, fewer people, and less with uncountables: less time. Supermarket signs saying “ten items or less” are the famous counterexample, and they are still wrong.

Do native speakers actually use bare few and little?

In writing, constantly. In speech they are rarer and sound formal, so not many and not much do the work instead. That is why learners meet them mainly in exam texts and news writing rather than in conversation.

Which one to useB1

Few, a few, little, a little

The short answer

The article decides the attitude. A few and a little mean “some, and that is enough”. Few and little mean “not many, not much, and that is a problem”. Few and a few go with countable nouns; little and a little go with uncountable ones.

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At a glance

A few, a little or Few, little?

Compare	A few, a littleSome. Positive.	Few, littleHardly any. Negative.
Attitude	Enough, and that is fine	Not enough, and that is the point
Countable nouns	a few friends	few friends
Uncountable nouns	a little time	little time
Rough paraphrase	some	hardly any
Register	Everyday	Formal: speech prefers not many, not much
With very	Not used	Common: very few, very little

How to choose

Ask these, in order

1
Can you count the noun?
Few or a few. If not, little or a little.
a few emails, a little patience
Emails count; patience does not.
2
Do you mean “some, and that’s fine”?
Keep the article: a few, a little.
We’ve got a little time before the train.
Enough time. No need to rush.
3
Do you mean “hardly any, and that’s a problem”?
Drop the article: few, little.
We’ve got little time before the train.
Almost none, we should hurry.
NBSame sentence, one word shorter, opposite advice.
4
Are you speaking rather than writing?
Consider not many or not much instead. Bare few and little sound formal in conversation.
There weren’t many people there.
More natural in speech than “there were few people there”.

Side by side

Each one, in full

A few, a little

A few and a little

Some. Positive.

Both mean a small but sufficient amount, and both carry a positive attitude: the speaker is saying that something exists and that it is enough for the purpose at hand.

A few takes countable plurals: a few days, a few questions, and a little takes uncountable nouns, a little sugar, a little help. The article is what makes them positive, so it is never optional.

I’ve got a few ideas we could try.

Some, and they may be useful.

Give it a little time.

A small amount, and enough.

Quite a few people turned up.

Quite a lot, in fact.

NBQuite a few means more than a few, not fewer, a genuine trap.

Few, little

Few and little

Hardly any. Negative.

Without the article the meaning flips to “hardly any”, and the sentence becomes a complaint or a warning. Few people came means the turnout was poor; little progress was made means almost none was.

Both are noticeably formal in speech, where English prefers not many and not much. In writing they are ordinary, and very few and very little are the usual intensified forms.

Few candidates met the criteria.

Hardly any did.

There is little evidence for that claim.

Almost none.

He said very little at the meeting.

Nearly nothing.

NBVery belongs with the bare forms, not with a little.

Mistakes to avoid

What learners actually get wrong

I have few friends here, so I’m never lonely.
I have a few friends here, so I’m never lonely.
Few means hardly any, which contradicts the second half of the sentence. Dropping the article reverses the meaning rather than softening it, and the result is a sentence that argues with itself.
There are a little chairs left.
There are a few chairs left.
Chairs are countable, so they take a few. A little only goes with uncountable nouns, and mixing them is the more visible of the two errors here.
Quite a few people came, so it was almost empty.
Very few people came, so it was almost empty.
Quite a few means a fair number, it intensifies a few, not few. It is one of the few English phrases where adding a word reverses the direction of the quantity.
I need a little more informations.
I need a little more information.
Information is uncountable in English and has no plural, which is also why it takes a little rather than a few. The quantifier and the plural go wrong together.

Now use it

Countable or uncountable?

Sort the nouns, and stop saying informations and advices. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.

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Questions

Asked and answered

Is there a quick way to remember which is which?: The article is the good news. A few and a little have one and mean “enough”; few and little lack one and mean “not enough”. If you can hear the a, the sentence is positive.
What about fewer and less?: Same countable split, one level up. Fewer goes with countables, fewer people, and less with uncountables: less time. Supermarket signs saying “ten items or less” are the famous counterexample, and they are still wrong.
Do native speakers actually use bare few and little?: In writing, constantly. In speech they are rarer and sound formal, so not many and not much do the work instead. That is why learners meet them mainly in exam texts and news writing rather than in conversation.

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