"It is soup" or "it is a soup"

Question

I know that there are nouns that are countable and uncountable at the same time. I would like to put a few examples to guess it.

What is this?

It is (a) soup

It is (an) ice cream

It is fish

It is (a) juice

It is (a) coffee

It is (a) tea

It is (a) beer

It is (a) chicken

It is (a) cake

Thank you.

It is (an) Ice Cream - R_5_Q_U_3_L, ABR 19, 2010

It is (a) fish - R_5_Q_U_3_L, ABR 19, 2010

Answer 1

All of those nouns could be uncountable and used without the "a."

I like soup, ice cream, fish, chicken, coffee, tea, beer.

Can we have fish for dinner?

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However, you can also use some of them with the "a." For example.

Is that a duck? No, it's a chicken

I'd like an ice cream.

Can you get me a coffee/tea/beer/juice?

Answer 2

yes, what Marianne said .

But if you want to say "It is ____", you can't use "a" with soup.

It is soup/ice cream/fish .

Yes, what you mean is that to answer the question "what is this?" it would be better to answer with "it is soup". - nila45, ABR 20, 2010

Answer 3

You could say , "It is a soup" like you would say"It is a stew" It is a stew, not a soup.

Answer 4

It is (a) soup

I could go for (a) piece of bread.

I would love (an) ice tea at the moment.

I took (a) nap and now I am ready to bake (an) apple pie.

Answer 5

Can you get me a coffee/tea/beer/juice?

Yes, I was taught that it is possible to say: a coffee and a beer, but I was thinking: why isn't it possible to say: a tea and a juice as we say in Spanish?. Marianne gave me the answer.

Also it would be possible to say: an ice cream, a soup. Everything depends on the context.

I don't know why, but "fish" sounds better when it is uncountable, specially if it is the food on your plate. But, I suspect that this is a particular problem of mine. If you say I have two fishes on my plate, it should be correct, shouldn't it?