Such followed by indefinite article

Question

¡Hola! I read in a text the phrase "such bad weather" and I thought this had a mistake because it doesn't say "such a bad weather" but apparently it is correct? I don't understand why. You don't say such bad book, but rather such a bad book or such an interesting book. When do you use the indefinite article? Gracias

Answer 1

Such a/an if it is a single item

Such without the article if it is plural or uncountable. If you do not know the terms countable vs. uncountable I can explain it.

Weather is uncountable- you don't really say there is one weather, there are two weathers. Rather you speak of types of weather. Just as you don't have one milk or two normally, you have glasses of milk. (I know sometimes people will use shorthand and say give me two milks, but that is shorthand, you still say "such good milk", not such a good milk, unless as shorthand for something like "it is such a good (brand of) milk").

Reference:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/such-vs-such-a.2393370/

1) I didn't expect it to be such a nice day.

2) He wears such nice clothes.

3) They're such nice people

4) We had such a good time.

3) It's such a problem.

4) I've never eaten such awful food.

x

It depends on the noun: if it's uncountable/plural countable, you can't use the article 'a'. So, food (uncountable); clothes and people (plural nouns). You use 'a' with singular countable nouns; here: day, time, problem.

Siempre me rescatas jajaj! Muchas gracias Bosque :D - mariifer, Aug 3, 2016

De nada. :) - bosquederoble, Aug 3, 2016

:) - ian-hill, Aug 4, 2016

You always go above and beyond. Thank you. :) - rac1, Aug 4, 2016