Alguien, nadie, algo, nada: Spanish indefinites

Course · Unit: Quantity CEFR A2 Reviewed by Jhoslyn Updated 2026-09-12

Draft copy. Every claim needs a native-speaker check before publishing — the byline is what makes this citable, so it has to be earned.

The four that never change

One form each, no gender, no plural. Alguien está en la cocina. No hay nadie en la casa. Quiero algo frío. No quiero nada.

Note that an adjective after algo or nada is masculine singular by default: algo frío, nada interesante.

The two that do change

Alguno and ninguno agree, and they lose their final o in front of a masculine singular noun.

• ¿Hay algún carro en el parque? — before the noun, shortened
• ¿Puede ayudarme alguno? — standing alone, full form
• No tengo ningún problema.
• Ninguna estudiante tiene medias blancas.

Ninguno is normally singular even where English goes plural. “I don’t have any friends here” is no tengo ningún amigo acá — one word singular, and Spanish means it.

Spanish says no twice, and it is not optional

This is the rule worth the whole page. If a negative word lands after the verb, no must come before the verb.

Both columns are correct and mean the same thing. What does not exist is the half-built version — vino nadie, quiero nada. English’s “I don’t want anything” tempts you into producing no quiero algo, which is also wrong; Spanish keeps the negative word and adds the no.

The habit to build: decide where the negative word goes, then check whether the verb needs a no in front of it.

Alguien and nadie take the personal a

When they are the object of the verb, they need a — the same personal a you use before a person’s name.

• ¿Conoces a alguien acá?
• No conozco a nadie.
• Estoy buscando a alguien.

As the subject, no a: alguien te llamó, nadie sabe.

Cualquier and cualquiera

Cualquier goes before a singular noun and means “any at all”: cualquier mesa, cualquier hora. Cualquiera stands alone and means “anyone” or “any one of them”: cualquiera puede cocinar.

Put cualquiera after a noun and it becomes dismissive — un libro cualquiera is just any old book.

Two expressions you will hear every day in Lima

• Nada que ver. — literally “nothing to see with it”. It means “that’s got nothing to do with it”, or simply “no way, not at all”. — ¿Es tu novio? — ¡Nada que ver!
• Para nada. — not at all. — ¿Te molesta? — Para nada.

Both are informal, both are extremely common, and both are the natural way to reject a suggestion without sounding harsh.

Try it

1. There’s nobody in the office.
2. Do you know anyone in Cusco?
3. I don’t want anything, thanks.
4. I don’t like any of the shirts.

→ 1 No hay nadie en la oficina · 2 ¿Conoces a alguien en Cusco? · 3 No quiero nada, gracias · 4 No me gusta ninguna camisa.

Topics PronounsPeruvian Spanish