Stuff and things can be used interchangeably in many situations, the only difference being the level of formality. But sometimes they cannot be swapped. Watch the video to the end for the differences!

Things

We’ll start with things. Thing is a countable noun used for any item you can’t name or don’t want to name. It is informal and used mostly in speech.

But we can use the plural – things in many ways.

1. To label a group of physical items – but remember, they must be countable. We can’t call a pile of sand, things. And make sure your verb and determiner match the plural form.

– Why are these things on my bed?

2. Possessions – any belongings that you are taking somewhere.  It might be to work or to school or travelling on an aeroplane.  They are your things.

– Grab your things, we’re going!

Or it can be used to describe all your possessions.

– We have too many things, we need to have a clear out.

We can also use things to describe activities, events, ideas, information or a process.

Activities – I can’t meet for coffee this afternoon; I have some things to do.
Events – The festival has some great things for kids.
Ideas – Those are some great ideas you’ve given us. We have lots of things to think about now.
Information – They told us so many things at school today!
Process (either emotional or physical process) – These things take time, don’t rush!

Stuff

Stuff as a noun is uncountable and very casual. It can be used in the same way as all the examples above but because stuff is an uncountable noun, we treat it as singular and it doesn’t have a plural form. It is always stuff, not stuffs. So, your verbs and determiners should be in the singular form.

If we swap our examples from before –

A group of physical items becomes – Why is that stuff on my bed?

Now if the items are countable, we probably should call them things, right? But if there are too many items to count, we can call them uncountable so we can use either things or stuff, it just depends on how informal you want to be.

Possessions – Grab your stuff, we’re going!
All possessions – We have too much stuff, we need to have a clear out.

Be careful to use the correct quantifiers here – too many things, too much stuff.

Activities – I can’t meet for coffee this afternoon; I have some stuff to do.
Events – The festival has some great stuff for kids.
Ideas – We have lots of stuff to think about now.
Information – They told us so much stuff at school today.
Process – This stuff takes time, don’t rush!

Things or Stuff

We can also use either things or stuff to be a bit vague. 

– Today we learned about ecosystems and stuff.
– Today we learned about computer software and things like that.

Material

Now here’s where it gets different. Use stuff, but not things, to describe liquid, gas, fabric, and other uncountable material. Remember I said you couldn’t call a pile of sand ‘things’?

– That coffee is really good stuff!
– What is this stuff called?  It’s Tartan fabric.
– There’s some sticky stuff on my chair!
– What’s that stuff on the floor of the barn? (hint: it’s not poo!)

As always, comments can be left under the video on YouTube.

Until next time!