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Is this sentence, "I wish I had a little less problems" grammatically correct? Especially the phrase, "... a little less problems". I know there are other ways to say the same thing like, "I wish I didn't have as much problems" or "I wish I had less problems" but it changes the feel of the sentence. The feel I'm tryna give off with this sentence is that the person has so many issues that he's wishing that AT LEAST something was right.

Btw, is the title grammatically correct?

Edit: Thanks Juhasz, this surely is an issue of countable and uncountable thing. But that didn't solve my problem cause in the sentence I'm not only using 'less' but 'a little' also.

Edit: So, this is what I'm actually writing: "It's hard to live in a world where everyone seems perfect and you spend your day wishing you had a little less problems". Now, I can't find something that quite goes with the flow.

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  • @Jason Yeah, only 'less problems' sounds good but 'little less' xD I want to add it idk why. "I wish I had a little less problems" -- doesn't that sound good at all?
    – Rhythm
    Jul 15, 2019 at 18:59
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    Please don't ask: I just want to know if my sentence is correct or not. For one, proofreading requests are expressly off-topic. For another, yes-or-no questions don't fare well on the Stack Exchange. We are looking to explain why things are correct or not. Thirdly, it's hard to say what's "correct" in English. Grammatically correct? Idiomatically correct? Acceptable in everyday speech?
    – J.R.
    Jul 15, 2019 at 19:00

2 Answers 2

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I would write "I wish I had fewer problems".

In theory, less is supposed to be used to describe a smaller amount of a single entity, while fewer is supposed to be used to describe a smaller number of entities.

In practice, what you have written is likely to be understood, if a little awkward.

For more casual speech, I might also suggest:

  • "I wish I didn't have quite so many problems." (the reversal feels more natural to me, and the use of quite indicates that there is only a small adjustment needed)
  • "I wish I had a little less on my plate" (on my plate is an idiom for things to do, so might not be a direct translation, but certainly understandable)
  • "I wish I didn't have quite so much on my plate" (a combination of the two is also valid)

After question edit #1:

The feel I'm tryna give off with this sentence is that the person has so many issues that he's wishing that AT LEAST something was right.

"I wish I didn't have quite so many problems." infers this well enough.

"I wish I didn't have as much problems"

no; use "I wish had fewer problems" (fewer not less)

"I wish I didn't have as much problems"

again, no; use "I wish I didn't have as many problems" (many not much)

After question edit #2:

So, this is what I'm actually writing: "It's hard to live in a world where everyone seems perfect and you spend your day wishing you had a little less problems". Now, I can't find something that quite goes with the flow.

  • It's hard to live in a world where everyone seems perfect and you spend your day wishing you had fewer problems.
  • It's hard to live in a world where everyone seems perfect and you spend your day wishing you didn't have quite so many problems.

PS: There is nothing wrong with the the title of your question (assuming it still reads "… a little less problems" – is this phrase grammatically correct?). Quoting the problematic phrase makes it clear that we are referring to the the phrase, and the question at the end is fine.

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The following would apply to normal phrasing:

✔ fewer problems
✘ less problems

✘ fewer of a problem
✔ less of a problem

The use of adjectives should not be influencing the word used.

In other words, I would say one of the following:

  1. a little less of a problem
  2. a little fewer problems

However, the specific phrase a little fewer problems, while analytically correct, seems idiomatically strange.

In short, I would pick 1. over 2.

So:

I wish I had fewer problems. OR
I wish I had a little less of a problem.

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