Indefinite pronouns and determiners in Spanish

by Alba Castro

The other day I was thinking how awesome it would be to have all the indefinite determiners and pronouns in the same grid, to avoid the annoying multi-screening. I mean, there're always there when I teach Spanish for intermediate students.

Even better, if it briefly explained when to use each, right?

Then I thought, it would be even more awesome if the grid included all the meanings and neutral forms!

So...here it is!

But before...! Remember:

A pronoun (pronombre in Spanish) is a word that replaces the noun:

This is what they look like:

El mío - mine (pronombre posesivo)

Esto - This, this thing (pronombre demostrativo)

Nada - Nothing (pronombre indefinido)

A determiner (determinante in Spanish) is a word we use before a noun (this is a person, object or abstract thing) to define it and add some information about it.

Some examples:

Un gato - A cat (determinante indefinido)

Esa corbata - That tie (determinante demostrativo)

Tu hijo - Your son (determinante posesivo)

Cualquier persona - Any person (determinante indefinido)

¡Perfecto!

A little bit of practice:

Fill in the gaps:

  • _______ (a lot of) turistas vienen a este país de vacaciones. _____ (many) vienen por el tiempo, y ______ (others) vienen por la historia.
  • ______ (nobody) quiere ser voluntario pero _____ (every) las personas que conozco admiran lo que hago.
  • Tengo _____ (little) paciencia pero tengo ______(a lot of) cualidades. Por ejemplo, no tengo _______ (any) envidia.
  • Mi hermana tiene ______ (so many!) bolsos! En mi opinion son _________ (too many).
  • Hay ______ (several) platos para elegir. ¿Cuál quieres? – ______ (any of them), _______ (everything) es delicioso!
  • ¿Tienes ______ (something) para el dolor de cabeza?
  • Sé que hay _______ (quite a lot of) películas pero ______ (none) me convencen.

muchos, muchos, otros/ nadie, todas/ poca, muchas, ninguna/ tantos, demasiados/ varios, cualquiera, todo/ algo/ bastantes/ ninguna

Translations:

1. A lot of tourists come to this country on holidays. Many of them come because of the weather and others come because of the history.

2. Nobody wants to be a volunteer but every person I know admire what I do.

3. I have little patience but I have a lot of qualities. For example, I don’t have any jealously* (literally, or I’m not jealous at all).

4. My sister has so many handbags! In my opinion they are too many.

5. There are several dishes to choose. Which one do you want? – Any of them. Everything is delicious!

6. Do you have anything for a headache?

7. I know that there are a lot of movies but none convince me.