Are you sure to know how to use ANY and SOME in Spanish? Continue reading because this is what we are going to learn today, and sure that you are going to find it very useful.
The plural of un and una is unos and unas. Their basic meaning is some or a few, and they’re often used in Spanish when they’re not needed in English:
Comimos unas galletas en el parque (We ate -some- cookies in the park).
Cuesta solo unos euros (It only costs a few euros).
In a list, you use the article before each noun:
Compré unos limones y unas peras (I bought some lemons and pears).
- They are also used to mean approximately:
Vinieron unos veinte niños a la fiesta (About twenty children came to the party).
- Unos o unas are also used when in English you would say a pair of:
unas tijeras (a pair of scissors); unas gafas (a pair of glasses) …
Other ways to say ANY and SOME in Spanish
There are other ways besides unos/unas of translating any and some into Spanish:
- Cualquier + noun (any… at all):
Puedes venir cualquier día (You can come any day).
- If cualquier is put after a noun, it adds -a:
Hoy no es un día cualquiera (Today isn’t any old day).
- Algún, alguna, algunos, algunas can be some:
Volverá algún día (He’ll come back some day).
¿Tienes alguna pregunta? (Do you have any questions?).
Tienen algunos problemas (They have some problems).
- Any in a negative sentence is ningún, ninguna. They’re used with a singular noun even though the English translation is plural:
No lo veo en ninguna parte (I can’t see it anywhere).
No tenemos ningún problema (We don’t have any problems).
When they are not translated SOME and ANY into Spanish
Some and any are not translated into Spanish before a singular noun: quiero leche (I’d like some milk); necesito azúcar (I need some sugar)…
Or in questions where any can be left out in English: ¿tienes hijos? (do you have -any- children?); ¿Hay tiendas por aquí? (Are there (any) shops around here?
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