The Indefinite Pronouns

The words некто (a certain person), нечто (a certain thing), некоторый(some, certain), несколько (some, several), ктo-то (somebody), чтo-то(something), ктo-нибудь (anybody), чтo-нибудь (anything), какoй-то(some kind of), кoе-ктo (somebody) are the indefinite pronouns. They refer to indefinite or unknown things, people, features or quantities. Thepronunciation samples for these pronouns are given below.

Let's consider some examples:

• В некотором царстве жил царь.

• (In some kingdom there lived a king.)

• Кто-то взял мою ручку.

• (Somebody took my pen.)

• Скажите что-нибудь.

• (Say something.)

How to form the indefinite pronouns

The indefinite pronouns are formed from the interrogative pronouns with the help of such prefixes as не-, кое- and suffixes -то, -либо, -нибудь.

Note, that the suffixes -то, -либо, -нибудь and the prefix кое- are written with a hyphen. On the contrary, the pronouns with the prefix не are always written as a single word. The prefix кое loses its hyphen when it is separated from a pronoun by a preposition, for example:

• Эта книга заставила меня кое о чём подумать.

• (This book made me think about some things.)

The good news is that the indefinite pronouns некто and нечто do not change by cases. They are always used in the nominative. The rest of the indefinite pronouns change like their interrogative counterparts.

The indefinite pronouns with the prefix кое- are used to talk about things known to the speaker but unfamiliar to the listener.

• Мне нужно тебе кое-что сказать

• (I have something to tell you.)

• Он пытался выудить у меня кое-какую информацию.

• (He tried to fish some information out of me.)

The indefinite pronouns formed with the suffixes -то and -нибудь are the most common ones. There is a difference in the meaning of these two suffixes. The suffix -то is used to talk about people, things and features which are real and definite, but not familiar to the speaker.

• Кто-то поёт.

• (Somebody is singing.)

• Я нашёл чей-то портфель.

• (I found somebody's case.)

• Какой-то человек искал тебя.

• (Some man was looking for you.)

The suffix -нибудь is used when people and things are indefinite or not chosen by the speaker from several possible ones.

• Пусть кто-нибудь останется и поможет мне.

• (Let someone stay and help me.)

• Давай посадим на клумбу какие-нибудь цветы.

• (Let's plant some flowers into the flowerbed.)

The Interrogative Pronouns

In Russian, just like in English, the interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. The interrogative pronouns are кто (who), что (what), какой(what kind), чей (whose), который (what/which), сколько (how much/many), насколько (to what extent). 

Let's look at several examples:

Что это? (What is this?) Кто пришёл? (Who has come?)

In this lesson you will learn about the usage and meaning of interrogative pronouns. We will first study the pronouns какой, который, чей and their forms. Then we will take a look at the pronouns кто, что, сколько, followed by который and чей.

Какой, который, чей

The interrogative pronouns какой (what kind of), который (which), чей(whose) change by gender, number and case. Besides, you should distinguish between animate and inanimate forms when using the accusative case. This is demonstrated in the tables below.

Change by gender and number

masculine	feminine	neuter	plural (any gender)
какой	какая	какое	какие
который	которая	которое	которые
чей	чья	чьё	чьи

Change by cases

Case	"какой"	"который"	"чей"
Nominative	какой	который	чей
Genitive	какого	которого	чьего
Dative	какому	которому	чьему
Accusative	animate = Genitive inanimate = Nominative	animate = Genitive inanimate = Nominative	animate = Genitive inanimate = Nominative
Instrumental	каким	которым	чьим
Prepositional	о каком	о котором	о чьём