Some in Spanish. Algún Versus Alguno

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Remember in the previous post, we had seen that there were two indefinite adjectives for a masculine/singular nouns and we had to explain the use of them, because without knowing it, in the first place, it made no sense at all. Let’s remember the example that we had given:

PADRE → FATHER

Now, let’s try to express SOME FATHER :

◊ Note that FATHER in this case, it is a masculine/singular noun, which will take us in the table of the indefinite adjectives to ALGUNO and ALGÚN???Eing???

ALGUNO PADRE → SOME FATHER?

Or:

ALGÚN PADRESOME FATHER?

Which one is right? Are both correct? How does it work? 

⇒ It is time to give you the answer.


 

First of all, whenever we are using the indefinite adjective with a masculine/singular noun, we will always use ALGÚN. Therefore:

ALGUNO PADRE → INCORRECT

And:

ALGÚN PADRE → CORRECT


 

Let’s see more examples then with masculine/singular nouns to understand it completely; Let’s pick TELÉFONO, LIBRO and EDIFICIO:

  1. TELÉFONO (PHONE).

SOME PHONE:

ALGUNO TELÉFONO → INCORRECT

And:

ALGÚN TELÉFONO → CORRECT


 

2. LIBRO (BOOK).

SOME BOOK:

ALGUNO LIBRO → INCORRECT

And:

ALGÚN LIBRO → CORRECT


 

  1. EDIFICIO (BUILDING).

SOME BUILDING:

ALGUNO EDIFICIO → INCORRECT

And:

ALGÚN EDIFICIO → CORRECT


 

♦ Then, what happens to ALGUNO; When do we use it? What is that for?

ALGUNO IS A PRONOUN which means that we will use it, without a noun, but referring to it. Eing??? Let’s see an example:

¿TIENES ALGÚN BOLÍGRAFO?

DO YOU HAVE SOME PEN?

SÍ, YO TENGO ALGUNO.

YES, I HAVE SOME.


◊ Note that we are not using the noun BOLÍGRAFO in the answer, but it is already known because it is told previously in the question, so there is no need of repeating the noun twice. ALGUNO is a pronoun because it refers to a known noun  and so we do not have to say it again.


 

→ Is it clear? Let’s see one more example:

¿TIENES ALGÚN LIBRO?

DO YOU HAVE SOME BOOK?

SÍ, YO TENGO ALGUNO.

YES,  I HAVE SOME.


◊ Note that we are not using the noun LIBRO in the answer, but it is already known because it is told previously in the question, so there is no need of repeating the noun twice. ALGUNO is a pronoun because it refers to a known noun  and so we do not have to say it again.

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