# EN: some / any



## max296

Hello,

I still have a lot of problems with some and any...

for instance what's the correct form in this case or maybe they're both correct? -> " I don't have (any) problems "

Thank's


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## Canard

The major difference I see is that "any" is used with negative verbs or in questions, and "some" with positive ones.

Does he have *any* time at all? He has *some* time available.
He doesn't have *any* money. I have *some*.


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## tilt

Pour des mots comme _anybody _et _somebody_, c'est une bonne façon de décider lequel employer et j'ai l'impression que l'emploi de _some _dans des phrases négatives reste rare, en effet.
Mais _any _peut être utilisé dans des phrases positives aussi, et _some _dans des phrases interrogatives. Je ne suis donc pas sûr que ce critère soit vraiment déterminant ; il vaut mieux comprendre la différence entre les deux.

• _Any _fait référence un ou des éléments quelconques d'un ensemble. On peut généralement le traduire par _le moindre _(et ses variantes en genre et nombre):
-> _I can solve any problem = Je peux résoudre le moindre problème.
-> Do you have any problem? = As-tu le moindre problème ?_
-> _I don't have any problem = Je n'ai pas le moindre problème._
À l'usage, bien sûr, on utilisera des tournures de phrases plus naturelles en français (_Je peux résoudre n'importe quel problème - As-tu un problème ? - Je n'ai aucun problème_) mais qui n'en changent pas le sens.

• _ Some_ désigne au contraire un ou plusieurs éléments précis, même si non identifiés, dans un ensemble. On le traduira par _quelques _ou par _certains _en français.
_-> I have some problems = J'ai quelques problèmes.
-> Some problems are hard to solve = Certains problèmes sont difficiles à résoudre._
Quand il joue un rôle de pronom, on le traduit par _en_.
_-> I have some = J'en ai.
_
C'est bien cette notion de référence quelconque ou précise qui est capitale.


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## geostan

I sympathize with Max296. The uses of some and any can be a headache for the non native speaker. I went off line to try and figure out an easy system for using them, but it will take some time, I'm afraid. 

Nor can one say that some is used in affirmative contexts, and any in negative or interrogative sentences. The fact is both these words can be used in all three types of sentence.

For instance, _any_ is perfectly correct in many affirmative sentences.

Pick a card, any card. Prends une carte, une carte quelconque.

Any person found out of doors after 9 o'clock will be arrested.
Tout individu surpris dehors après 9 heures sera arrêté.

Occasionally one might hear either word in the same sentence without an appreciable difference in meaning.

Can anyone tell me why this is so?  Can somebody tell me why this is so? The first one might suggest a little more frustration than the second, but neither sentence would sound odd to a native speaker.

If we limit ourselves to the words in affirmative sentences, I might suggest the following:

any + a singular countable noun 
some [not always expressed]+ an uncountable noun
Some + plural countable noun

This is as far as I have got. If anyone/someone finds counter examples, please post them.

Cheers!

P.S. I googled a few sites that purportedly teach English as a second language. Some of the statements and examples were not correct, so choose your sites carefully.


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## JokeySmurf

I'd just like to expand on what geostan posted. "Any" seems to be used in situations where you want to emphasize "it doesn't matter which" (more or less the same intention as "quelconque"), whereas "some" usually seems to imply a specific thing, even if you don't know exactly what it is or if it doesn't matter exactly what it is.

Going back to the example of "pick a card, any card", note that "pick a card, some card" sounds weird to native ears because the "some card" portion of the sentence seems repetitive an not needed.

However, just saying "pick some card" sounds completely natural.

As another example of the difference:
Somebody broke into my house!

You would use "somebody" instead of "anyone" because you are trying to saying that somebody _specific _broke into your house. You maybe don't know who it was, but it was a specific person.

Or consider the sentences:
Anyone could break into my house!
Somebody could break into my house!

The sentence using "anyone" implies that the house is so easy to break into that all people are capable of doing it (whether that person is a little child or an elderly man). The sentence using "somebody" implies that there is some person out there that could break into the house. Not everyone could do it, but there is some person out there (though we might not know who it is) who could break into the house.


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## geostan

JokeySmurf said:


> However, just saying "pick some card" sounds completely natural.



While most of your analysis is quite sound, I don't think "Pick some card." sounds natural at all. If my own analysis is correct, this should be either P_ick a card_. or _Pick any card.

Cheers
_


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## radagasty

geostan said:


> any + a singular countable noun
> some [not always expressed]+ an uncountable noun
> Some + plural countable noun



As soon as I saw this, I knew there had to be counter-examples, and they were not long in coming:

Any water that is spilt must be mopped up at once.
Any notes brought into the hall will be confiscated.
He will find himself on the wrong side of the law some day.


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## joueurdebasson

I agree with geostan. "Pick some card" doesn't sound natural at all. I would definitely use "Pick a card." However, "some" could be used if cards were pluralized. eg. "pick some cards" sounds fine to me.


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## geostan

radagasty said:


> As soon as I saw this, I knew there had to be counter-examples, and they were not long in coming:
> 
> Any water that is spilt must be mopped up at once.
> Any notes brought into the hall will be confiscated.
> He will find himself on the wrong side of the law some day.



Yes, my suggestions were just a starting point. The whole matter needs time. Still, in the first two examples, isn't it curious that _any_ could be replaced by _all_. I'm discounting the third example because it is really an idiomatic expression, equivalent to saying _one day_.

Yet these very examples shed light on the topic. Is it fair to suggest that if the meaning is _all_, _any_ rather than _some_ must be used? _Some_, on the other hand, especially at the beginning of a statement, implies that _the opposite is true for others_.

Again, I'm only throwing these out for others to consider.

Bonne nuit!


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## tilt

radagasty said:


> Any water that is spilt must be mopped up at once.
> Any notes brought into the hall will be confiscated.
> He will find himself on the wrong side of the law some day.


These sentences follow exactly the line I gave in post #3: _any _is to be used when referring to elements of a whole, no matter which ones they are. It could be none as well as all of them.
_Some _rather refers to specific elements of the whole, even if we don't know precisely which ones, but it will never be the none or all of them.

I wouldn't say that singular and plural or countable and uncountable are deciding criteria to choose which one of _any _and _some _to prefer. Only the meaning of the phrase is.


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## Wizy

bonjour,

Je voudrais savoir quand *Any et Some* peuvent être suivis d'un pluriel.
J'ai du mal à comprendre.

Thanks.


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## CDHMontpellier

Brief rules for partitives:

Any = du/de la/des pour une question dont l'existence de la chose n'est pas sûre: "Are there any cars in the parking lot?" = "Y a-t'il des voitures sur le parking?" et également pour exprimer une négation: "Il n'y a pas de voitures sur le parking" = "There aren't any cars in the parking lot".

Some = du/de la/des pour une affirmation: "Il y a des voitures sur le parking" = "There are some cars in the parking lot".  Et pour proposer ou demander qqch dont l'existence est certaine: "Puis-je avoir des petits pois?" = "May I have some peas?" ou encore "Qui veut des petits pois?" = "Who would like some peas?"

Voilà en bref, j'espère que c'est clair et que je n'ai pas dit de bêtises.

Mais cette question devrait se trouver chez les grammairiens, à mon avis...


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## pyan

“Some” or “any”, meaning indefinite quantities, are used with plurals or non-count (indénombrable) nouns.

  Is there any wine left? (non-count noun)
    Is there some / any cheese left?   Yes, there is some cheese left. (non-count noun).  No, there isn't any cheese left.
    Some advice is good.  Some advice is bad. (non-count noun)
Are there some / any apples left? Yes there are some apples left.
Are there some / any yoghurts left?  Yes, there are some yoghurts left.  No, there aren't any yoghurts left.


You can see the verbs with the non-count noun are singular.


I hope this helps.


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## Asr

Hello!

Can we really say, "Are there *some* apples left?" I was taught that in the question form we had to use any.

Cheers.


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## CDHMontpellier

I would say "are there any apples left?" if I really didn't know and "are there some apples left?" if I was pretty sure that the answer was yes.  For me, it's a question of the degree of certainty (and that's how I teach my students).  But you're right, the rule of thumb is *any* for questions in this sense.


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## MichiganQuebec

For the record, "Are there any apples left?" is more common, and is considered more proper in most contexts.

Many ESL grammar texts teach that you must say "any" rather than "some" in these questions.  However, I would argue that while this is perhaps a rule, there are certainly some exceptions.  

However, that's another topic.  ;-)


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## Dapoint

Hi everyone,

I need to know whether you use _*some*_ or _*any*_ in this phrase:

_"Hereby, I need to point out the fact that I had to spend my personal savings during my stay in London - which is not acceptable -, because of this tax code mistake and I was not supposed to have *any*."_
(I mean any savings)

I'm hesitating because the phrase is a negative form, so you should use any, but given that _money_ is an uncountable, I would be tempted to use "some" and I think it's more polite aswell.

Could you help me please? Thank you very much.

Dapoint


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## Guilhem 128

Hi,

Some + countable/uncountable = quelques/un peu de
not + any + countable/uncountable = aucun/pas de

In this sentence you can only use *any*. "I was not supposed to have any money."
*some* and *any* can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

Hope it helps,


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## Frenglish teacher

Hi, I know the use of any and some, but I struggled to explain to my students why in the sentence "Can you give me ........ information about the conference?", we use "some" instead of any", even though it is  a question. Apart from saying that it doesn't sound right, which is not very professional for a teacher.
what do you make of that?
thanks


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## Maître Capello

Les deux sont possibles selon ce que l'on veut, selon la réponse que l'on attend:

Si l'on s'attend à des informations précises et utiles, à toutes les informations nécessaires, on utilisera _*some*_.
Si l'on est désespéré et que l'on souhaite obtenir ne serait-ce qu'une bribe de réponse, on utilisera _*any*_ (= au moins un, n'importe quel).


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## Aoyama

Je suis bien d'accord avec Me. Ca, les deux sont possibles, pourquoi en éliminer un aussi péremptoirement (une manie que beaucoup de profs ont, pas moi) ...


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## moustic

*Some* and *any* have both a "quantative" and a "qualitative" meaning.

Quantative -> du, de la, des -> I want *some* chocolate. I don't want *any* soup. Do you have *any* apples?

Students of English usually learn that *some* is used in affirmative sentences and *any* is used in negatives and questions. This is fine for beginners, but it's a bit more complicated. "Do you have *some* apples?" is possible when the person speaking expects a positive answer.

Qualitative -> some = un(e) sacré(e) ... (ou autre adjectif admiratif) -> She's *some* woman!
some = quelconque -> he has *some* problem.
any = n'importe (le)quel ... -> Just give me *any* book.


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## chamyto

Do not forget that "some" is used as well in questions, when we are offering whatever and we expect a positive answer. There is no point to use "any" is this case:

Do you want some fruit?


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## Avrel

Hi there,
I read several articles about how to use "some" and "any", and I think I should use "some", but I feel more like using "any" in that sentence :
_
"How I would manage to raise my children, if I decided to have any."

or_
_
"How I would manage to raise my children, if I decided to have some."

actually maybe I'd rather say "how I would know how to raise my children, if I decided to have any/some" ?

the original sentence in French is : 

"A la mort brutale de ma mère, je me suis posé la question de comment je saurais élever mes enfants, si je décidais d'en avoir."

many thanks for your help!
_


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## Maître Capello

Dans ce contexte, je dirais _any_ étant donné qu'il suffit d'avoir un seul enfant pour se demander comment l'élever. Avec _some_ cela sous-entendrait qu'il faudrait en avoir plusieurs.


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## Avrel

bien vu, merci!


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## Aterian

Bonjour,

Est-ce qu'il existe des *interrogations de négation* où on peut trouver _any_ à la place de _some_ ?

_Isn't there some sugar left?
Ne reste-t-il pas du sucre ?

Isn't there any sugar left?_
Est-ce que cette dernière phrase a du sens ? J'ai l'impression que oui, ici on dirait (sans certitude) :
_Ne reste-t-il même pas un soupçon de sucre ?_

Merci de votre aide.


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## Maître Capello

Pour les questions, qu'elles soient positives ou négatives, les deux sont possibles selon le degré de certitude du locuteur.

_Isn't there *some* sugar left?_ → N'est-il pas vrai qu'il reste du sucre ? (On s'attend à ce qu'il y en ait.)
_Isn't there *any* sugar left?_ → Ne reste-t-il pas du sucre ? (On n'en sait rien, voire on doute qu'il y en ait.)


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