| 7.9.1.6 Alcuno / nessuno / chiunque / ognuno / ciascuno / qualcuno |
The substantive form of alcuno, in other words the pronoun, matches in gender and number with the noun it refers to.
| summary | ||
| singular | plural | |
| masculine | alcuno | alcuni |
| feminine | alcuna | alcune |
We have a similar problem as the one we had with the adjective forms. The meaning of the plural is clear, alcuni / alcune means some / any. But what is the meaning of the singular forms, alcuno / alcuna. Simplifying we can say that alcuno / alcuna as a pronoun (don't confuse that with the use as an adjective! Used as an adjective it can be used in singular) can' t be used in singular.
One might think that alcuno is used in negative sentences. That's not the case. In this case nessuno is compulsory.
| Examples | |
| I haven' t met anybody. | |
| Non ho incontrato nessuno. | 
|
| wrong: Non ho incontrato alcuno. |
That may seem illogical, because the double negation (non ...nessuno) could be understood as positive, but that' s not the case in Italian (and Spanish). Double negation rests negation.
In some isolated cases, mostly in literature, you can find alcuno / alcuna as a postponed pronoun (don't confuse it with alcuno / alcuna used as an adjective => senza raggione alcuna / without any reason), but this use is very seldom.
| Example | |
| And all that must happen without anybody coming to know it. | |
| E tutto ciò deve avvenire senza che alcuno lo sappia. |
|
The table below is a simplified summary of all we have said until know.
| Example | |
| alcuni / alcune => some - any | |
| Alcuni non sapevano che cosa fare. |
|
| Some didn't know what to do. | |
| chiunque => whoever | |
| Chiunque sappia farlo, deve farlo. |
|
| Whoever can do it, must do it. | |
| ognuno =>everybody | |
| Ognuno crede che ha ragione. |
|
| Everybody believes that he is right. | |
| ciascuno => each | |
| Ho parlato con ciascuno. |
|
| I have spoken with each of them. | |
| qualcuno => someone | |
| C' è qualcuno che vuole parlare con te. |
|
| There is someone who want to speak with you. | |
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