When ein, kein, and the quantifiers (manche, einige, viele, wenige) stand alone — replacing a noun instead of sitting in front of one — they take the full strong endings. This is the moment learners discover that the article ein had "gaps" (no ending in the masculine nominative and neuter), but the pronoun einer has no gaps at all: every form is overtly marked. On top of that, this page covers welche, the little word that does the job English does with a bare "some / any" — and which most learners have never been taught.
Determiner vs pronoun: why the endings change
As a determiner, ein sits before a noun and is famously endingless in three spots: masculine nominative (ein Mann), neuter nominative (ein Kind), and neuter accusative (ein Kind). The noun is right there, so the article can afford to be vague — context fills the gap.
As a pronoun, there is no noun to lean on. The pronoun has to show gender and case all by itself, so it adopts the strong endings (the same ones the definite article carries): einer for masculine nominative, eins for neuter, einen for masculine accusative. The endingless forms simply do not exist when the word stands alone.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | einer / keiner | eine / keine | eins / keins |
| Accusative | einen / keinen | eine / keine | eins / keins |
| Dative | einem / keinem | einer / keiner | einem / keinem |
(The neuter pronoun is usually written eins / keins in everyday German; you will also see the fuller eines / keines in more formal writing.)
einer / eine / eins — "one (of them)"
Use the ein-pronoun to mean "one" when answering or referring back to a countable noun already in play. The ending agrees with that noun's gender and the pronoun's own case in the new sentence.
Hast du einen Stift? — Ja, ich habe einen.
Do you have a pen? — Yes, I have one.
Brauchst du noch ein Glas? — Nein danke, ich habe schon eins.
Do you need another glass? — No thanks, I already have one.
Suchst du eine Wohnung? — Ja, und ich habe endlich eine gefunden.
Are you looking for a flat? — Yes, and I've finally found one.
In the first example, Stift is masculine and the object of habe, so the pronoun is einen (masculine accusative). In the second, Glas is neuter, so eins. The pronoun "remembers" the gender of the noun it stands for — this is why you can't just say a single all-purpose "one" the way English does.
keiner / keine / keins — "none / not one"
The negative pronoun kein works identically and means "none" or "not a single one." It is the standard way to say you have none of something countable.
Hast du noch Fragen? — Nein, ich habe keine.
Do you have any more questions? — No, I have none.
Möchtest du einen Apfel? — Danke, ich brauche keinen.
Would you like an apple? — Thanks, I don't need one / I need none.
Von den Kandidaten hat keiner die Stelle bekommen.
Of the candidates, not one got the job.
welche — the partitive "some" English speakers never learn
Here is the genuinely useful, often-untaught piece. When you want to refer back to some quantity of a noun — especially a plural or an uncountable mass noun — German uses welche as a pronoun meaning "some / any." English does this with a bare "some" ("Do we have milk? Yes, we have some"), so learners simply never look for a German word and end up stuck.
Welche is the partitive answer. It declines like a der-word (welcher, welche, welches, welchen) to match the gender and number of the noun it refers to.
Haben wir noch Milch? — Ja, ich glaube, wir haben noch welche.
Do we still have milk? — Yes, I think we still have some.
Brauchst du Eier fürs Rezept? — Ja, kannst du welche mitbringen?
Do you need eggs for the recipe? — Yes, could you bring some?
Wir hatten Erdbeeren im Garten, aber jetzt sind keine mehr da. — Schade, ich hätte gern welche gehabt.
We had strawberries in the garden, but now there are none left. — Shame, I'd have liked some.
Notice the neat pairing: welche is the positive partitive ("some") and keine is its negative counterpart ("none"). "Haben wir welche? — Nein, wir haben keine." That symmetry is the whole system in miniature.
manche, einige, viele, wenige standing alone
The quantifiers manche (some/several), einige (a few/some), viele (many), and wenige (few) can also drop the noun and stand as pronouns. They take der-word plural endings and typically refer to people or things from a group.
Viele sind gekommen, aber wenige sind geblieben.
Many came, but few stayed.
Manche mögen den neuen Chef, andere nicht.
Some like the new boss, others don't.
Einige der Studenten waren krank, aber die meisten waren da.
A few of the students were ill, but most were there.
The contrast worth noting: welche answers "some of that thing we just mentioned" (partitive, often a mass noun), while manche / einige mean "some people/items as opposed to others" (a subset of a group). German keeps these jobs in separate words; English uses "some" for both.
Common Mistakes
❌ Hast du einen Kugelschreiber? — Ja, ich habe ein.
Incorrect — that's the determiner form. The standalone pronoun needs the strong ending.
✅ Hast du einen Kugelschreiber? — Ja, ich habe einen.
Do you have a ballpoint pen? — Yes, I have one.
❌ Brauchst du ein Messer? — Nein, ich habe schon ein.
Incorrect — Messer is neuter, so the pronoun is eins, not the bare article ein.
✅ Brauchst du ein Messer? — Nein, ich habe schon eins.
Do you need a knife? — No, I already have one.
❌ Haben wir Tomaten? — Ja, wir haben einige Tomaten welche.
Incorrect — don't stack words; the partitive pronoun welche stands alone for 'some'.
✅ Haben wir Tomaten? — Ja, wir haben welche.
Do we have tomatoes? — Yes, we have some.
❌ Möchtest du Kekse? — Nein danke, ich will nicht welche.
Incorrect — to say 'I don't want any' use the negative pronoun keine.
✅ Möchtest du Kekse? — Nein danke, ich will keine.
Would you like cookies? — No thanks, I don't want any.
❌ Ich habe gestern mit ein gesprochen.
Incorrect — masculine dative pronoun is einem, fully marked.
✅ Ich habe gestern mit einem gesprochen.
I spoke with one (of them) yesterday.
Key Takeaways
- As pronouns, ein and kein take the full strong endings that show gender and case — einer / eins / einen, keiner / keins / keinen — closing the "gaps" the determiner had.
- The pronoun agrees with the gender of the noun it replaces: masculine einen for Stift, neuter eins for Glas.
- welche is the partitive pronoun for "some / any" of a plural or mass noun already mentioned — the German word English speakers rarely learn because English uses a bare "some."
- keine is the negative partner of welche: "Haben wir welche? — Nein, keine."
- manche, einige, viele, wenige can stand alone too, but they mean "some/many of a group," not the mass-noun partitive that welche covers.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Possessive Pronouns (meiner, deiner, seins...)B1 — When a possessive stands alone instead of before a noun, it takes strong der-word endings — because now nothing else carries the case and gender.
- 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.
- jemand, niemand, etwas, nichts, allesA2 — The core German indefinite pronouns — including the etwas Gutes pattern that turns an adjective into a capitalized noun.