Spanish words alguien, algo, nadie and nada are indefinite pronouns. They don’t refer to particular person or thing. We use alguien and nadie to talk about people, and algo and nada to talk about things.
All those indefinite pronouns mentioned above don’t change their form. It doesn’t matter if the pronoun refers to man (men) or woman (women), it always has a singular masculine form.
¡Hola! ¿Hay alguien despierto? (Hello. Is anyone awake?) – we can be referring to one man, couple of men, one woman or various women.
Algo = una cosa, pero no se sabe qué cosa
Alguien = una persona, pero no se sabe quién
We use Spanish words algo and alguien in affirmative sentences and questions:
¿Hay alguien en la casa? (Is anyone in the house?)
Tenemos que hacer algo. (We have to do something.)
Nada = ninguna cosa
Nadie = ninguna persona
Spanish words nada and nadie are used in negative sentences. If nada and nadie go before a verb, the verb stays positive (affirmative):
Nadie me ha saludado. (Nobody greeted me./ Nobody said hello to me.)
Nada le importa. (Nothing matters to him.)
However, if they follow a verb, we also need to make the verb negative:
No me gusta nada. (I don’t like anything.)
No hay nadie en la calle. (There’s no one in the street.)
We use algo de, nada de with uncountable nouns to express quantity:
Hay algo de leche en la nevera. (There’s some milk in the fridge.)
No hay nada de pan en la despensa. (There’s no bread in the pantry.)
We can use algo and nada alone when it refers to a thing mentioned before:
¿Tienes dinero? Tengo algo./ No tengo nada.
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