Indefinites, quantifiers And Other Determiners/Pronouns Flashcards
Aller/alle (all)
All as a determiner has various forms:
Inflected aller on its own (where all has same endings as dieser) is most common for plural
Alle Kinder Spielen
Inflected aller + definite article is common in plural and feminine nouns in nom/akk
Eg alle die Bücher
Uninflected + definite article is used in singular and also in plural
Eg all das schlechter Wetter
All is also used with another determiner. In plural both inflected and uninflected can be used but in singular only uninflected
Eg all mein Geld
All used as a pronoun declines like dieser
Eg Alles ist bereit
Uninflected all and inflected alles are used with demonstrative das for ‘all that’
Eg ich habe all das/alles das/das alles schon gesehen
A noun can be qualified by a following inflected all-
Eg die Kinder spielen alle im Garten
Ganz is often used to refer to ‘all’ and has to be used with collective nouns, time expressions and geographical names
Eg die ganze Familie/ den ganzen Tag/ganz Europa
Ander (other)
In most contexts ander is used as an adjective
Eg der andere Student
The first e is often dropped in writing but the second is dropped with anderen/anderem
When used with a preceding determiner and no following noun, it’s not usually spelt with a capital letter
Eg alles andere
When ander is used without a preceding article a following adjective has the same strong endings as those of ander except en is norm in dative masc/neuter
Eg anderes dummes Gerede
Beide (Both)
Beide can be used as a determiner or a pronoun.
It has the same endings as plural dieser and a following adjective has weak endings
Eg ich habe beide Bücher gekauft
Beide can be used as an adjective after a definite article
Eg Seine beiden Brüder
Used with a pronoun beide usually has endings of plural dieser
Eg wir beide
The neuter singular Beides is used collectively to refer to two things
Eg Beides ist möglich
Einer (one)
Einer has different endings from indefinite article ein in Nominative Singular (einen) and nom/akk neuter (eines)
Eg einer der Männer
Einer often has the sense of someone/anyone
Einer muss es getan haben
Ein can be used as an adjective with the definite article
Eg Der eine deutsche Tourist (one German Tourist or one of the german tourists)
A little (Ein wenig/ein bisschen)
The ein does not decline and a phrase with von is used instead of Genitiv
Eg Ich hatte noch ein wenig britisches Geld
Bisschen and wenig are interchangeable but bisschen can be used with a demonstrative or possessive
Eg mit ihrem bisschen Talent
A few (ein paar)
The ein does not decline and a phrase with von is used instead of Genitiv
Eg ein paar Flaschen Wein haben wir noch im Keller
Some (einige)
Einig refers to a limited amount or number.
It declines like dieser apart although masc/nom in Genitiv is einigen
A following adjective has strong endings
Einiger is not often used in singular. Usually one would convey ‘some’ by using no article/determiner
Eg ich habe heute Fleisch gekauft
Singular Einiges is sometimes used as a collective indefinite pronoun
Eg ich habe noch einiges zu tun
Einige is widely used as a determiner and a pronoun in the plural
Sie wollte einige Ansichtskarten kaufen
Some (etliche)
Implies more than expected (eg several)
It declines like dieser and is only used in plural. A following adjective has strong endings
Etliche dieser Stücke
Etwas (Something/anything)
Etwas is used as an indefinite pronoun as something/anything
Eg etwas störte mich
When used to qualify a noun etwas has the sense of ‘some’/‘a little’
Eg er hat kaum etwas Geld
Etwas is commonly used with an adjective used as a noun, then the adjective has strong endings
Eg etwas ganz Neues
The following (folgend)
Folgend can be used as an adjective but can be used similar to pronoun/determiner. Unlike English it is then used without preceding article and adjectives are usually weak in singular and strong in plural
Eg alle folgenden Bemerkungen
Sie machte folgende Bemerkungen
Some X or other (irgend)
Irgend is combined with a variety of indefinite pronouns, adverbs and determiners to give them sense of ‘some X or other’
Eg du musst es irgendwie machen
Each/every (jeder)
Jeder is only used in singular as a determiner or a pronoun. It declines like dieser.
Sie hat jedem Kind einen Apfel Kind
It can also imply ‘any’
Das weiß doch jeder gebildete Bürger
Somebody/anybody
Jemand and niemand decline but in accusative and dative it is often left without endings
Eg ich habe niemand/niemanden gesehen
With a following adjective, they are usually endingless in the accusative and dative. The adjective is treated as a noun and can have ending es in all cases or en in accusative and em in dative
Eg
Jemand Fremdes ist gekommen
No/not any/none (kein)
Kein is the negative form of definite article and declines like ein. It is typically used when positive sentence would have an indefinite or no article
Eg sie hat kein Auto
Kein is also used in phrasal verbs
Eg er hat sich keine Mühe gegeben
But when the phrasal verb is so closely linked to verb it’s almost separable verb, then nicht is used
Eg er spielt nicht Klavier
Only/nothing but (lauter)
Lauter is undeclinable and is only used as a determiner
Eg es kamen lauter junge Leute
