what little=the little, what few=the few。两者均强调“少”。

He visits what few friends he has. 他拜访了仅有的几位朋友。

She is responsible for what little I have learned. 我学到的这点东西都得归功于她。

He visits what few friends he has. 这类句子中，我认为不宜在what few和the few之间划等号。因为the few friends he has 中，我们可以在he has前加上省略的关系代词that。但在what few friends he has中，he前是不能加that的，因为what+名词中已经含有了关系代词that，再加that就是语法错误了。what是融合型关系限定词。是限定词和关系代词合二为一，引导的是名词性关系分句。

what little的含义是：用what 表达“所有的……”，再用little 表达“仅有那么一点点”，两者合起来就是“所有……就那么一点点”。如：

There he took what little money he had. 他把仅有那点钱都带走了。

句中用what little表达了他把所有的钱带走，不过数量太少了，所有的也就仅有那么一点点。

“I did not know,” said Chillingworth. “I have been with Mr Winthrop, doing what little I could for a dying man.”“我并不知道。”奇林沃思回答，“我一直在温斯罗普先生那儿，尽我所能为一个垂死的人尽点绵薄之力。”

句中用what little很好地表达了尽点绵薄之力的意思。

She is responsible for what little I have learned本句含义是我所学的东西不多，那怕就这么一点，都感谢她。

what few的含义和what little 一样，前者后面跟可数名词后者跟不可数名词。