11.13 Some, any, no

Consider the following examples:

I like some books by Greene.
(Me gustan algunos libros de Greene.)

I like any books by Greene.
(Me gusta cualquier libro de Greene.)

(Note that ‘‘any’’ is NOT negative.)

I like no books by Greene.
(No me gusta ningún libro de Greene.)

I like no books by Greene is formal, and we can express the same meaning more informally like this:

I don't like any books by Greene.
(No me gusta ningún libro de Greene.)

Notice that you will often see and hear double negatives, for example:

I can't get no satisfaction.
(No logro ninguna satisfacción.)

Some people consider double negatives incorrect, and we advise you to avoid them.

These words are the central members of a group of words with similar grammatical characteristics:

	Affirmative	¹	Negative
Determiner	some (books)	any (books)	no (books)
Pronoun	some	any	none
Indefinite person	somebody someone	anybody anyone	nobody no one
Indefinite thing	something	anything	nothing
Indefinite place	somewhere	anywhere	nowhere
Indefinite time	sometimes	ever	never

¹ All of these words can go in positive statements, but their most frequent use is in questions and in statements with a negative word: not, no, never, etc.

Examples of determiners some, any and no:

I bought some olives and some cheese.
(Compré olivas y queso.)

A: Did you buy any grapes? (¿Compraste uva?)

B: No, we didn't buy any fruit at all. (No, no compramos nada de fruta.)

There isn't any sugar left.
(No queda azúcar.)

I've got no clean shirts.
(No tengo camisetas limpias.)

Examples of some of the other words:

I asked for some garlic but they hadn't got any.
(Pedí ajo, pero no tenían.)

The teacher invited the whole class but none of the girls came.
(La maestra invitó a toda la clase, pero no vino ninguna chica.)

(Note that we cannot say, e.g.: The teacher invited the whole class but ~~nobody/no one~~ of the girls came.)

We'll have to do something for Peter.
(Debemos hacer algo por Peter.)

A: Do they ever go out? (¿No salen nunca?)

B: No, never. (No, nunca.)

I haven't seen Susan anywhere.
(No he visto a Susan en ningún sitio.)

For ever and never, see also present perfect simple. See also many, much, and expressions that go with countable and uncountable nouns.