Woman: Well, you use this to sit on the train.
Man: Use it to sit on the train? How?
Woman: When you can’t find a seat, you just hang it on those luggage bars above the seats. It’s made of cloth so it’s easy to carry.
Man: I don’t get it.
Woman: When there are no seats on the train, you can sit on this. Put the hooks over the luggage bars. It makes a little seat.
Question: “A little” seat here means “a small” seat or “some” seat?
Does this have something to do with countable nouns vs. non-countable nouns? As a native speaker I don’t think about such things, but that seems to be how it works – “a little” can only mean “some” with non-countable nouns:
I’d like to drink a little water.
I’d like to eat some apples.
I’d like to eat a little apples.
Edit: Continue with more examples:
I drank little water = I drank water, but not much.
I drank some bottles = I drank (the contents of) a few bottles.
I drank a little bottle = I drank the contents of a small bottle.
Some nouns can be either countabe or non-countable. The usage is in the context:
A candy = a piece of candy: countable
Candy = sweets collectively: non-countable
I ate candy: non-countable usage
I ate a candy: countable usage
I ate little candy: non-countable, not much candy
But with “a little” it could be either, decided by context:
I ate a little candy: Either some candy (non-countable), or a small piece of candy (countable)