A dictionary says 'cake' is countable basically.
But it also says 'cake' can be used as an uncountable noun.
My question is when you guys use 'cake' alone and with 'a' '(number)' 's'.

ex
give me a chocolate cake.
give me chocolate cake.

what difference do they have?

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askingsaint

2 March

English (UK)
English (US)

"cake" is countable when you're talking about the physical, discrete items, and it's uncountable when you're talking about it as a... substance, I guess? So you'd say "There's cake on the table" to mean that the substance known as "cake" is on the table, but the amount is ambiguous — could be three slices, could be seventeen entire baked cakes. If you say "Theres A cake on the table", you'd only ever mean one and it would (usually) be the entire thing.

This works for a lot of foods, but not all. For example, you can say "I ate pie for dinner" or "I ate A pie for dinner", either is fine.

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Highly-rated answerer

hhoc2000

2 March

Korean

@askingsaint
Thank you that's what I wanted to know.

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Is "Cake" an uncountable noun or countable noun?If both are possible, then when are they used each? See a translation

it is both.Last night, I baked two cakes. (+count)We often eat cake after supper. (-count)

@hhoc2000 "We often eat a cake" feels like the sentence is incomplete. Like when? "We often eat a cake every Wednesday/every Easter Sunday/every Christmas."The same would be for "We often eat an apple." It feels incomplete.

@hhoc2000 it is both a countable noun and an uncountable noun.

@hhoc2000 food is usually uncountable. cake is both uncountable and countable, but mostly used as an uncountable noun. 'we just had cake' 'my mom cooked spaghetti'. i don't understand what you're trying to say tho

Is "Cake" an uncountable noun or countable noun?
If both are possible, then when are they used each?

See a translation

it is both.

Last night, I baked two cakes. (+count)
We often eat cake after supper. (-count)

@hhoc2000 "We often eat a cake" feels like the sentence is incomplete. Like when? "We often eat a cake every Wednesday/every Easter Sunday/every Christmas."

The same would be for "We often eat an apple." It feels incomplete.