Diferença entre LITLE e A LITTLE & FEW e A FEW
Little e few (sem o ‘a’) tem uma conotação mais negativa (= not much / not many):
-> Peter is very busy with his job. He has little time for other things. (not much time, less than he would like)
-> Mary doesn’t like to live in Dublin, she has few friends there. (not as many as she would like)
Você pode usar ‘very’ (very little / very few):
-> Petter has very little time for other things.
-> Mary has very few friends in Dublin.
A little e a few tem significados mais positivos:
A little = algum, uma quantidade pequena:
->Let’s go and have a coffee, we have a little time before the train leaves.
(a little time = algum tempo, o suficiente para tomar um café)
-> Do you speak English? ‘A little.’ (então podemos falar um pouco)
A few = algum, um pequeno número:
-> I enjoy my life here. i have a few friends and we meet quite often.
-> When was the last time you saw Peter? ‘A few days ago’ (alguns dias atrás)
Vamos comparar:
-> He spoke little English, so it was difficult to communicate with him.
(foi difícil comunicar com ele)
He spoke a little English, so we were able to communicate with him.
(foi possível comunicar com ele)
-> She is lucky, she has few problems.
(não muitos problemas)
-> Things are not going so well for her, she has a few problems.
(alguns problemas)
Basicamente é isso 🙂