When you don't want to point at a specific thing — when you mean "some book or other," "any reason at all," "a bit of milk," "a couple of people" — German reaches for a family of indefinite determiners. The two big tools are the prefix irgend-, which dials any word up to maximum vagueness, and the quantifiers etwas / ein bisschen / ein paar, which measure out unspecified amounts. This page shows how each one declines (or refuses to), and clears up two spelling traps English speakers fall into constantly: ein paar versus ein Paar, and the urge to space out irgend ein into two words.
irgendein: ein with a shrug
irgendein means "some... or other," "any... at all" — a specific thing exists, but the speaker neither knows nor cares which one. Grammatically it is just ein with the prefix irgend- glued on the front, so it declines exactly like ein (and exactly like kein): you add the same ein-word endings to the -ein part, and the irgend- prefix never changes.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | irgendein | irgendeine | irgendein |
| Accusative | irgendeinen | irgendeine | irgendein |
| Dative | irgendeinem | irgendeiner | irgendeinem |
| Genitive | irgendeines | irgendeiner | irgendeines |
Gibt es irgendeinen Grund, warum du nicht kommen kannst?
Is there any reason at all why you can't come?
Ruf mich an, wenn du irgendein Problem hast.
Call me if you have any problem whatsoever.
Sie hat das Buch in irgendeiner Schublade versteckt.
She hid the book in some drawer or other.
Note that irgendein is always written solid, as one word — never irgend ein. The same goes for the whole series: irgendwo, irgendwann, irgendwie, irgendwas, irgendwer.
irgendwelche: the plural and mass form irgendein can't supply
Just as ein has no plural (you can't say eine Bücher), irgendein has no plural. The gap is filled by irgendwelche ("any," "some kind of"), which is built on the der-word welche and therefore takes der-word (strong) endings. Use it for plurals and for uncountable nouns:
| Case | Plural / mass | Example noun |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | irgendwelche | irgendwelche Probleme |
| Accusative | irgendwelche | irgendwelche Fragen |
| Dative | irgendwelchen | mit irgendwelchen Leuten |
| Genitive | irgendwelcher | wegen irgendwelcher Gründe |
Hast du noch irgendwelche Fragen?
Do you have any (more) questions?
Ich habe keine Lust, mir irgendwelche Ausreden anzuhören.
I don't feel like listening to any excuses.
Falls irgendwelche Probleme auftauchen, sag mir Bescheid.
If any problems come up, let me know.
irgend- is a productive prefix: a whole some-/any- series for free
The real payoff of learning irgend- is that it is a productive prefix: attach it to almost any question word or ein-word and you get the matching indefinite. Learn the mechanism once and you've unlocked an entire "some-/any-" system that English builds with separate words:
| Base word | irgend- form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wo (where) | irgendwo | somewhere / anywhere |
| wann (when) | irgendwann | sometime / at some point |
| wie (how) | irgendwie | somehow |
| wer (who) | irgendwer / irgendjemand | someone / anyone |
| was (what) | irgendwas / irgendetwas | something / anything |
| ein | irgendein | some / any (+ noun) |
| welche | irgendwelche | some / any (plural, + noun) |
Lass uns irgendwann nächste Woche telefonieren.
Let's talk on the phone sometime next week.
Ich habe meinen Schlüssel irgendwo im Auto verloren.
I lost my key somewhere in the car.
The forms ending in -was and -wer are pronouns (they stand alone, without a noun), whereas irgendein and irgendwelche are determiners (they sit in front of a noun). That is the dividing line: Hast du irgendwas gehört? (pronoun) versus Hast du irgendein Geräusch gehört? (determiner).
etwas, ein bisschen, ein paar: measuring vague amounts
For quantities, German has three workhorses, and only one of them ever inflects.
etwas ("some, a little") sits before uncountable nouns and is invariable — it never takes an ending:
Möchtest du noch etwas Kaffee?
Would you like some more coffee?
ein bisschen ("a little bit") is likewise frozen — both words stay put before an uncountable noun:
Gib mir bitte ein bisschen Geduld.
Give me a little bit of patience, please.
ein paar ("a few, a couple") goes before plural countable nouns and is completely invariable: the paar is written lowercase and never changes.
Ich habe ein paar Leute zum Essen eingeladen.
I've invited a few people for dinner.
ein paar vs ein Paar: the trap that costs you the meaning
This is the single most important spelling distinction on the page, because the capital letter changes the meaning entirely.
- ein paar (lowercase paar) = "a few, a couple of" — an indefinite small number. Invariable.
- ein Paar (capital Paar) = "a pair" — a real noun meaning two things that belong together. It declines like any neuter noun: ein Paar, des Paars, zwei Paar Schuhe.
Ich brauche ein paar Schuhe für den Winter.
I need a few (pairs of) shoes for the winter.
Ich brauche ein Paar Schuhe für den Winter.
I need one pair of shoes for the winter.
Read those two aloud and the difference is audible only in context, but in writing the capital P is decisive: ein paar Schuhe could be three odd shoes; ein Paar Schuhe is exactly two that match. Because German capitalises all nouns, the capital letter is the grammatical signal that Paar is a counted thing, not a vague quantity.
Contrast with English
English keeps "some" and "any" as two separate words and switches between them by sentence type — "some" in statements, "any" in questions and negatives ("I have some milk" / "Do you have any milk?"). German does not make that statement-versus-question switch: etwas and irgendein cover both. So English speakers over-think which word to use, when German simply asks whether the noun is countable and singular (irgendein), countable and plural (irgendwelche / ein paar), or uncountable (etwas / ein bisschen).
The other transfer problem is the open spacing. English writes "some one," "some where" as the closed someone, somewhere — and German closes them too: irgendwer, irgendwo. Resist the urge to split irgend ein into two words.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich habe ein Paar Freunde getroffen.
Incorrect — capitalised Paar means 'a pair (two)'; for 'a few friends' use lowercase paar.
✅ Ich habe ein paar Freunde getroffen.
I met a few friends.
❌ Gibt es irgend einen Bus um diese Zeit?
Incorrect — irgend- is written solid: irgendeinen.
✅ Gibt es irgendeinen Bus um diese Zeit?
Is there any bus at this time?
❌ Hast du irgendein Probleme mit dem Plan?
Incorrect — irgendein has no plural; the plural is irgendwelche.
✅ Hast du irgendwelche Probleme mit dem Plan?
Do you have any problems with the plan?
❌ Sie hat ein paares Geld gespart.
Incorrect — ein paar is invariable and never takes an ending.
✅ Sie hat ein bisschen Geld gespart.
She's saved a little bit of money.
❌ Möchtest du etwasen Tee?
Incorrect — etwas is invariable; it never takes an ending.
✅ Möchtest du etwas Tee?
Would you like some tea?
Key Takeaways
- irgendein = "some/any" before a singular countable noun; declines like ein, written solid.
- irgendwelche fills the plural and mass gap; it takes der-word endings.
- irgend- is a productive prefix: irgendwo, irgendwann, irgendwie, irgendwer, irgendwas — a whole some-/any- series.
- etwas and ein bisschen measure uncountables; ein paar counts a vague few — all three are invariable.
- ein paar (a few, lowercase) ≠ ein Paar (a pair, capitalised noun). The capital letter carries the meaning.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- kein as a DeterminerA2 — kein is the only ein-word with a plural, and like every ein-word it triggers mixed adjective endings — this page works through kein inside the determiner system.
- viel, wenig, mehr, wenigerA2 — How the German quantity words viel, wenig, mehr and weniger inflect — uninflected before mass nouns, inflected in the plural, and always invariable for the comparatives.
- Determiners: der-words and ein-wordsA2 — The two determiner families that drive German adjective endings — der-words decline like the definite article, ein-words like ein, and each triggers its own adjective pattern.
- Possessive Determiners (mein, dein, sein, ihr...)A1 — The possessive determiners are ein-words whose stem is chosen by the owner but whose ending agrees with the thing owned — two independent agreements English never makes.