Some 一些，有些，有的，几, etc

[lockdoc]

It seems that there are so many words for "some" in Chinese. When to use what?

I heard of those words for "some"

1.) 一些

2.) 有些

3.) 有的

4.) 某些

5.) 几 (as far as I know, this should be a question word)

But I am only using 一些 and 有的 assuming that they are interchangeable.

一些人喜欢。

有的人喜欢。

When to use the others?

[creamyhorror]

一些 = some

[EDIT] 有些 = 有一些 = some/there are some

某些 = a certain group / some (emphasizing certain unknown 'ones')

有的 = 有一部分的 = 有些 = some (part of a larger whole)

The differences are pretty small, I think.

[Daphnie]

有的 is used as a pronoun, means "among these, some are/ one is..." Comparing with "有些"， 有的could be referring to only one thing, can be both singular or plural.

一些 is a adverbial,usually placed after a verb.

Here is a example which should be helpful for distinguishing 一些and有的/有些

我有一些朋友，有些/有的是中国人，有些/有的是美国人，有些/有的是日本人。

几means "sevaral " if it's used in a statement . We use 几 when there is only a small amount, which is normally less than ten.

[lockdoc]

Edit: When I posted "Daphnie's" post was not shown up yet.

OK thank you. Just to get this right I am gonna make some example sentences to see if it works out.

1.） 一些: 在我的班一些人的汉语进步很快。

Some people (that I know) in my class progress very fast in Chinese

2.） 有一些: 我的班有一些人，他们的汉语进步很快。

In my Class are some people, their Chinese progress is pretty fast.

3.) 有的： 我的班有的人，他们的汉语进步很快。 Actually this sounds wrong to me and I would rather use

在我的班有的人的汉语进步很快。 <- this instead

4.) 某些: 我昨天晚上看到某些人跑步，我想认识他们。

Yesterday Evening I saw some (dont know them) people jogging, I would like to get to know them

5.) 几： dunno :o

So If I made any mistakes please tell me.

[Shi Tong]

幾 (几) implies that it's a few, maybe an ammount you can count on your hand- you can also use it to count up things between you.

a) 你有十張紙， 可不可以給我幾張？

b ) 那你需要幾張？

a) 我需要三張， 你剩下那幾張對你來說夠嗎？

b ) 嗯， 這幾張應該夠吧。先給你三張再說

if it was a pile of, or a whole book of paper, the conversation wouldn't go in particles of 幾, it would go in particles of 些 because it would be a larger indefinate quantity. (you woulnd't own more than 4 houses for example- so you would count them as 幾 (几), whereas you might have 40 friends at school, so they could be counted in 些 because it's also an indefinate larger number.)

You can also use 幾 (几) for counting up with a friend how much of something they have; a) 你有幾塊糖果？ b ) 八塊.

I'd say 幾 (几) suggests an amount you can actually count with a definate small answer too, whereas 些 implies that it's an indefinate amount, or something you'd find it hard to count- like piles of rice, you'd not ask for 幾 (几) bits of rice, you'd ask for 些 some

Does that help?

[creamyhorror]

1.） 一些: 在我的班一些人的汉语进步很快。

Some people (that I know) in my class progress very fast in Chinese

我班里的一些人汉语进步很快。

2.） 有一些: 我的班有一些人，他们的汉语进步很快。

In my Class are some people, their Chinese progress is pretty fast.

This doesn't really work in Chinese. Try:

[在]我班里有一些人汉语进步很快。 "In my class, there are some people whose Chinese progress is very fast."

This is very similar to the sentence I gave for 1).

3.) 有的： 我的班有的人，他们的汉语进步很快。 Actually this sounds wrong to me and I would rather use

在我的班有的人的汉语进步很快。 <- this instead

在我班里，有的人汉语进步很快。 "In my class, some people progress very quickly in Chinese."

Somehow I feel 在 and the comma are better to include here.

4.) 某些: 我昨天晚上看到某些人跑步，我想认识他们。

Yesterday Evening I saw some (dont know them) people jogging, I would like to get to know them

I think 某些 might refer to "some" who are known but not identified by the speaker. I think this sentence is right, but I'm not sure. You could also say 我昨天晚上看到一些人在跑步，我想认识他们。

5.) 几： dunno :o

我还有几个问题要问你。 "I still have a few questions to ask you." As stated by Daphnie and Shi Tong, 几 means "a few" or "several", with a focus on the small number. In contrast, 一些 refers more to a part or portion of a group/whole, or an unspecific number more than "a few"/"several".

[lockdoc]

Thanks for the replies. Just an off-topic questions. Why are so many ppl here using traditional characters instead of the simplified once?

[skylee]

Why are so many ppl here using traditional characters instead of the simplified once?

Why do you think?

[lockdoc]

Why do you think?

No Idea, as I am learning chinese directly here in China and we learn the simplified characters. And the chinese people I know only know a hand full of traditional chars.

[skylee]

I see.

I would think that people who write in traditional characters here either were educated (or learnt Chinese) in Hong Kong / Taiwan / Macau or other places that use the traditional script, or are most comfortable with using traditional Chinese characters for some reason. I grew up in Hong Kong so I use traditional characters.

[lockdoc]

Ok thanks.

Just another specific question concerning 几.

I can say:

我病了几天.

meaning I was ill some days.

If I say:

他病了几天

What does it mean:

a) How many days was he ill?

B) He was ill some days

[creamyhorror]

他病了几天

What does it mean:

a) How many days was he ill?

B) He was ill some days

Both are possible - it depends on whether you have a questioning tone at the end of the sentence.

[Shi Tong]

我病了几天

I usually use 生病. This means "I was ill for a few days"

If I say:

他病了几天

What does it mean:

a) How many days was he ill?

B) He was ill some days

In this case you'd have to look at the context. If you point at someone, or you mention someone's name, or you're talking about someone, it would mean they were ill a few days- for example, if you pointed to your friend and said "他病了几天" it would mean "he was ill for a few days". However, if someone was talking about someone else and said they were ill for a while, you may want to know how many days, so you would use this sentence as a question: "他病了几天", and get an answer as a quantifiable amount of days "1/2/3/4 天".

To make it clearer who you're talking about you just have to add more context to the sentence, like saying "我朋友病了几天, 很严重" (used simplified for you here ), which with the context added would almost undoubtedly mean that you were saying "my friend was ill for a few days and it was quite serious". If you want to make it a question, you'd say something like "你朋友病了几天" which would almost undoubtedly mean "how many days was your friend ill for".

They can actually still be swapped around, since 你朋友病了几天 can also be a statement of fact (your friend was ill for a few days), and if you add 吗to the end of the first sentence, that can be made into a question- in other words, a person arriving at a hospital asking a doctor may say "my friend was ill for a few days, was it serious?"

So.. it's not always clear, but with context, it can help a lot to determine how it's heard.

[lockdoc]

Hey thank you for the big answer and the simplified ;-)

[Shi Tong]

heh.. always a pleasure, hope it helped!