Hi Sonia You need the 'of' if you want to specify the item of which you have 'a little bit'. For example: Would you like milk in your tea? Yes, just a little bit, please. I would like a little bit of milk in my tea. Is there any meat? Yes, but there is only a little bit left over from the meal. It's not much. Is there any meat left over? Yes, there is a little bit. There is a little bit of meat left over. I hope these examples are useful.

To add to the other answers (and perhaps also to the confusion), the phrases "a little", "a bit", and "a little bit" are also all adverbial phrases. They don't have "of" because there is no noun. e.g. "I like beer a lot but I like chocolate a little bit." "Visiting my friend on a Sunday is a little bit difficult" So when you see "a (little) bit", you have to ask yourself if it is qualifying a verb, an adjective or a noun. Note the difference in the placement of the expression when used with an adjective and when used with a verb.

This is a case of ellipsis, which seems to be a constant theme in the questions here. There's just a little bit [of food] leftover. Is the traffic bad? "There's a little bit [of traffic]. So what is dropped is not "of", but "of + noun object". There are no define rules for these constructions, they vary from case to case. And they are mostly colloquial. When writing, use the complete structures. If you speak a Romance language, follow that pattern. It will usually be correct.

Thank you, Caroline. Jerry, have you tried to learn a foreign language in your life? You make lots of questions that might look stupid and silly to native speakers of the language when you learn. I'm sorry, but your comment is of no help at all for a learner's encouragement.

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