few - мало и недостаточно a few - мало, но достаточно. a few chairs - несколько стульев (мало, но достаточно) few chairs - мало стульев (мало и недостаточно) e.g. He didn't like it at the camp: he had very few friends there. (мало и недостаточно) I'm sorry I have seen few plays by this author. (мало и недостаточно) She left and returned in a few minutes. (мало, но достаточно) I'd like to say a few words about my journey. (мало, но достаточно слов) Тоже самое с 'little' and 'a little'. Мы используем little: little time, little tea, little paper - единств. число Мы используем few: few cups, few trees, few flowers - множ. число. В России продается хорошая и полезная книга по англ. грамматике Ю. Голицынский. Она зеленая и стоит рублей 160. Лучшая книга. Даже сейчас ею пользуюсь.

few indicates scarcely none。 a few represents some still remains 。

She's lucky. She has few problems. (= not many problems) Things are not going so well for her. She has A few problems. (= some problems) I don't like living in London. I have few friends there. (= not many) I enjoy my life in London. I have a few friends and we meet quite often. (not many but enough to have a good time) Few and little (without 'a') = not many / not much (negative idea) A few / a little (some) have a more positive meaning He spoke little English, so it was difficult to communicate with him. He spoke a little English, so we were able to communicate with him.

These expressions show the speaker's attitude towards the quantity he/she is referring to. A few (for countable nouns) and a little (for uncountable nouns) describe the quantity in a positive way: - "I've got a few friends" (= maybe not many, but enough) - "I've got a little money" (= I've got enough to live on) Few and little describe the quantity in a negative way: - Few people visited him in hospital (= he had almost no visitors) - He had little money (= almost no money) From: http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/Determiners7b.cfm

few and little are both expressing the negative meaning example : there are few birds in the cage ! equals there are almost no birds in the cage there is little water in cup ! equals there is almost no water in the cup a little and a few express the positive meaning example ： there are a few birds in the cage equals there are many birds in the cage there is a little water in the cup equals there are some water in the cup the difference is they can show different meanings ,while few and little the negative one ; and a few ,a little the positive one hope it would help