# -нибудь vs -то



## ChinaShopTaurus

Здравствуйте,

Can somebody tell me the difference in usage between -нибуд and -то when used in conjunction with кто- or что-? I understand it to be somewhat like the difference between something/anything and somebody/anybody in English, yet it seems slightly more complicated. Is it the difference between the "то/нибуд" being known or unknown in the sentence?
Take the following example:

Мы услышали, что кто-"        " вошел в комнату

if my reasoning is correct, it should be нибуд here, even though it would be _some_body in English.

Спасибо большое заранее!

Patrick


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## Valvs

First of all, it is "нибуд*ь*". 



ChinaShopTaurus said:


> Take the following example:
> Мы услышали, что кто-"        " вошел в комнату
> if my reasoning is correct, it should be нибуд here, even though it would be _some_body in English.


No, "кто-нибудь" doesn't work in your example. You should use "кто-то" here. I am afraid I can't give you a general rule or a more detailed explanation. Not at this hour, anyway. Maybe after a good night's sleep


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## morzh

There is no rule that is set in stone but:

*Кто-нибудь*: someone/anyone, in the sense of "no matter who".

- Кто-нибудь знает, что это? - Does anyone know what it is (no matter who)?
- Мне нужен кто-нибудь, кто умеет водить машину - I need someone who know how to drive. (no matter who)
- Выставь этот стол на улицу; кто-нибудь его заберет. - Put that table out  - someone will pick it up (no matter who).

*Кто-то*: 1) has the same meaning as "кто-нибудь" and may be used in most cases where "кто-нибудь" is used.
2) someone/somebody in the sense of "someone we don't know who, some unknown person, a person whose name one cannot recall".

- Кто-то вошел в спальню - someone has entered the bedroom (some unknown person)
- Я отдал это кому-то, а кому - не помню - I gave it to someone, and I can't remember who it was.
- Тебе от кого-то письмо - You have a letter from someone (I don't know who it is who sent the letter).

-

Again, these two often cross, so one has to get a feeling of the language to discern.


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## Maroseika

Maybe it will be usefull for you to know that     -нибудь < ни будь = [кто] бы то ни был (no matter who).


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## dec-sev

The same is about “что-то” vs. “что-нибудь”:

Something happened to me yesterday – Со мной вчера что-то произошло. (I don’t know exactly what).

 Peter told me he had seen something interesting – Пётр сказал, что он увидел что-то интересное. (Something interesting but it’s now known what)

I wonder if he knows anything about Mary. – Интересно, знает ли он что-нибудь o Mэри. (Anything that can have to do with Mary)

У тебя есть что-нибудь интересное почитать? – Have you got anything interesting to read? (no matter what, the main thing it has to be interesting. In other words “что-нибудь” implies, so to say “a choice among interesting (books / magazines, etc.)”

Would you like something to drink? – Выпьешь что-нибудь? (Again, you are offered a choice)

- Что-то случилось с моей флешкой (memory stick) – файлы на ней не открываются. Что мне теперь делать?
- Не волнуйся, что-нибудь придумаем? – Don’t worry, we will come up with an idea. (We will find something (что-нибудь) that will help us resolve the problem.

P.S. I would only add that if we put a sentence in the past tense “no matter who” can (but not necessarily) turn into “an unknown person":

Я выставил этот стол на улицу, и кто-то его забрал. 
“Я выставил этот стол на улицу, и кто- нибудь его забрал” sounds bad.


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## ChinaShopTaurus

Спосибо большое!
I'm starting to understand I think, but as you point Morzh, it seems getting a feel for it according to situations is important. In some ways it seems to be the difference between a singular and plural unknown, as dec-sev's past tense example would imply.
Thanks again,
Patrick


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## dePrades

I'm not a native English speaker and I struugled myself with this problem as well, but I, somehow, found a rule that seems to work in most cases... if there is a chance that кто/что-" " refers to no one or nothing (in a question, when using future tense, etc.) then you use нибудь, but if it is for sure that there was something or somebody (as when talking in past) but you don't wnat to specify who or what or just you don't have this information, then you use то.


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## rusita preciosa

dePrades said:


> I'm not a native English speaker and I struugled myself with this problem as well, but I, somehow, found a rule that seems to work in most cases... if there is a chance that кто/что-" " refers to no one or nothing (in a question, when using future tense, etc.) then you use нибудь, but if it is for sure that there was something or somebody (as when talking in past) but you don't wnat to specify who or what or just you don't have this information, then you use то.


 
Sometimes input from a person who had to learn a language can be better than that of native speakers!


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## morzh

dePrades said:


> I'm not a native English speaker and I struugled myself with this problem as well, but I, somehow, found a rule that seems to work in most cases... if there is a chance that кто/что-" " refers to no one or nothing (in a question, when using future tense, etc.) then you use нибудь, but if it is for sure that there was something or somebody (as when talking in past) but you don't wnat to specify who or what or just you don't have this information, then you use то.



Wow! This is deep, dude.....


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## dePrades

Thanks for your compliments... It took me a time to get to this rule, but since I got it, my mistakes with the use of нибудь & то have hugely decreased.


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## dec-sev

dePrades said:


> I'm not a native English speaker and I struugled myself with this problem as well, but I, somehow, found a rule that seems to work in most cases... if there is a chance that кто/что-" " refers to no one or nothing (in a question, when using future tense, etc.) then you use нибудь, but if it is for sure that there was something or somebody (as when talking in past) but you don't wnat to specify who or what or just you don't have this information, then you use то.


Hola:
When I read the examples that morzh gave in his first post I thought about somethng similar. All the examples with "кто-нибудь" are in the present tense, while two of those containing "-то" are in the past.
The fact is that the first two with "кто-нибудь" can be put into the past tense using "кто-нибудь":

Кто-нибудь знает,  - Does anyone know what it is (no matter who)?
_Кто-нибудь знал, что это?_
_Кто-то знал, что это?_
"Кто-нибудь" and "Кто-то" are interchangeable in this case. 

_Кто-то знал о наших планах._
_Кто-нибудь знал о наших планах_.

- Мне нужен кто-нибудь, кто умеет водить машину - I need someone who know how to drive. (no matter who)

_Мне нужен был кто-нибудь, кто бы умел водить машину. _
_Мне нужен был кто-то, кто бы умел водить машину._
Both are OK and there is no difference between them.

I guess morzh gave a good clue:
"Кто-то" a certain person / people but it's not known who they are.
"Кто-нибудь" somebody no matter who.

If we're talking about an action in the past it's logical to suggest that "we don't know who" aspect is to be stressed:

_Somebody stole my car
Кто-то украл мою машину.

_ The stress is on a certain person I don't know who, rather than on "somedoby no matter who". I guess the same principle is valid for most sentences in the past. Ah, it's you to have noticed it 

Observé una tendencia. Bueno, no sé si es una tendencia o simplmente coincidencia  Más mira:

_Я ищу кого-нибудь, кто умеет ремонтировать компьютеры
Busco a alguien que sepa (subjuntivo) reparar los ordenadores._

_Я искал кого-нибудь, кто бы умел ремонтировать компьютеры.
Buscaba a alguien que supiera reparar los ordenadores._

_Он нашел кого-то, кто ему починил компьютер.
Dio con alguien que le reparó (indicativo) el ordenador._
Sabemos que dio con alguien, pero no sabemos quien es. 

_Он нашел кого-то, кто ему починит  компьютер
Dio con alguein que le repararía el ordenador._
Lo mismo

_Mas si se trata de una pregunta “кого-нибудь” suena más natual :
Он нашел кого-нибудь, кто ему починит  компьютер?_ 
Y es lógico: lo que se subraya es  “cualquier persona”, no "una persona desconocida".


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## dePrades

Are что-нибудь and что-то also interchangeable in the present tense? I was thinking about когда мне не нравится что-нибудь, я всегда жаловаю or когда мне не нравится что-то, я всегда жаловаю. Both are OK according to my rule, but I don't know if both are possible in Russian. Thanks for your answers!


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## morzh

dePrades said:


> Are что-нибудь and что-то also interchangeable in the present tense? I was thinking about когда мне не нравится что-нибудь, я всегда жаловаю or когда мне не нравится что-то, я всегда жаловаю. Both are OK according to my rule, but I don't know if both are possible in Russian. Thanks for your answers!



What is "жаловаю"? Regret?  Then it is "жалею".

In this particular case (does not matter present or not) it is interchangeable.

Когда мне что-то не нравится, это всегда видно.
Когда мне что-нибудь не нравится, это всегда видно.


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## estreets

Or жалуюсь?
Когда мне что-нибудь/что-то не нравится, я всегда жалуюсь.


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## dePrades

It meant to be complain, so, I think it should have been "жалею"... I'm really bad with verb conjugation  And yeah, I think I can get why both что-нибудь/что-то work here (when there is something (что-то), I complain but there might be nothing (что-нибудь)...)


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## rusita preciosa

Look up жаловаться vs. жалеть


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## morzh

dePrades said:


> It meant to be complain, so, I think it should have been "жалею"... I'm really bad with verb conjugation  And yeah, I think I can get why both что-нибудь/что-то work here (when there is something (что-то), I complain but there might be nothing (что-нибудь)...)




To complain - "жаловаться".

Когда мне что-то не нравится, я всегда жалуюсь. - Whenever (when) I don't like something, I complain.


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## dePrades

Do you think both of these sentences are right? If they are, which is the difference in meaning... If one of them is not right, why not? My Russian teacher said that one of them didn't sound right, but not completely bad... 

a) Ты можешь не говорить с кем-нибудь, который что-нибудь плохое тебе сделал.
b) Ты можешь не говорить с кем-то, который что-нибудь плохое тебе сделал.

Thanks for your help!


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## Maroseika

dePrades said:


> Do you think both of these sentences are right? If they are, which is the difference in meaning... If one of them is not right, why not? My Russian teacher said that one of them didn't sound right, but not completely bad...
> 
> a) Ты можешь не говорить с кем-нибудь, который что-нибудь плохое тебе сделал.
> b) Ты можешь не говорить с кем-то, который что-нибудь плохое тебе сделал.
> 
> Thanks for your help!



Both are wrong, at least because кем-то, который is impossible per se. Correct form is кем-то, кто.
In addition, не говорить с кем-нибудь is also impossible. Depending on the context it should be не говорить с тем, кто or не говорить с кем-то.

So, if I understand correct what's meant, it should be:
Ты можешь не разговаривать с тем, кто сделал тебе что-то плохое.


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## dePrades

Many thanks Maroseika... when I think that I got it (то/нибудь), I always find a new sentence that breaks my rules


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