• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Translation
Context
Dictionary
Conjugation
Grammar
Translation Context Dictionary Conjugation Synonyms Spell Check Documents & Website translation
Download for Mac Log in
Home / Quantity / ANY and SOME

ANY and SOME

When talking about quantity, or how much there is of something, the two most important words are any and some.

“Any” is generally used to ask if there is more than one of something. This kind of question is a “yes no” question, meaning that the answer is “yes” or “no”:

“Do you have any money?” (No, I don’t.)
“Are there any apples in the fridge?” (Yes, there are.)
“Have you received any calls this morning?” (No, I haven’t.)

When used along with the negative, “any” means “none”:

“No, I don’t have any money.” (I have no money.)
“No, there aren’t any apples in the fridge.” (There are no apples in the fridge.)

“Some” can also be used to answer questions about quantity. “Some” generally means more than nothing but less than the maximum amount.

“Some” is an imprecise term:

“Do you have any money?”
“Yes, I have some.”

“Are there any apples in the fridge?”
“Yes, there are some apples in the fridge.”

“Some” can also be used to ask questions about quantity. If you use “some” though, you are saying that you think the answer to the question is yes.

“Do you have some money?” (I think you do.)
“Are there are some apples in the fridge?” (I think there are.)

In order to be more precise, you would ask how much or how many:

“Do you have any money?”
“Yes, I have some.”
“How much money do you have?”
“I have five dollars.”

“Are there any apples in the fridge?”
“Yes, there are some apples in the fridge.”
“How many apples are in the fridge?”
“There are three apples in the fridge.”

Recent articles

  • Complex sentences: summary
  • Verb tenses: summary
  • Articles
  • Yes/No questions
  • Wh-questions

Read more…

Words that express quantity
Other words that express quantity are: plenty of too much/too many all (of) a lot of/lots of much/many a little/a few little/few none of When...
Quantity

We help millions of people and large organisations to communicate more effectively and accurately in all languages.

facebook twitter instagram
Products
Translation
Document translation
Translation in context
Spelling and grammar checker
Synonyms
Conjugation
Dictionary
Grammar
Free Apps
Reverso for Mac/Windows
Reverso for iOS/Android
Reverso for Chrome/Edge
Grammar & Offers
French Grammar
Reverso Premium
Reverso Corporate Translator
Contact us About Reverso Terms of use Privacy policy