what I have depends on what counts and how I count it
I have pears. Some pears. Four. I have four pears. If you take away a couple, I have a couple. Yet I didn’t have a pair of pears before. Fewer pears, but something more.
Moving two from me to you creates a couple couples where a single quadruple used to be. You can’t take a pair as that’s four. Not a couple, but a couple more.
Now you have the pair of pears I never had before. I have zero pears. Zero number; not some or any. ‘How many’ is none. I have no pears. Pears I have, yet not a one.