A few and few, a little and little"THE QUANTIFIERS"

A few and few, a little and little

These expressions show the speaker's attitude towards the quantity he/she is referring to.

A few (for countable nouns) and a little (for uncountable nouns) describe the quantity in a positive way:
Examples

* "I've got a few friends" (= maybe not many, but enough)
* "I've got a little money" (= I've got enough to live on)

Few and little describe the quantity in a negative way:
Examples

* Few people visited him in hospital (= he had almost no visitors)
* He had little money (= almost no money)