Someone and No one
To talk about unspecified people, use jemand (someone) and niemand (no one). They act like er/sie/es and take a third-person singular verb.
| Someone is knocking on the door. | Jemand klopft an die Tür. |
| No one stayed yesterday. | Gestern ist niemand geblieben. |
| No one is answering. | Niemand antwortet. |
Everything and Everyone
Use alles (everything) for things and jeder (everyone) for people. Both take a third-person singular verb.
| We want to see everything. | Wir wollen alles sehen. |
| Everything is perfect today. | Heute ist alles perfekt. |
| Everyone knows the secret. | Jeder kennt das Geheimnis. |
Some and Few
To talk about limited quantities of people or things, use manche (some) or wenige (few). Because they refer to multiple items, they take a plural verb.
| Some people are missing today. | Manche Leute fehlen heute. |
| Some are coming by bus. | Manche kommen mit dem Bus. |
| Only few know the answer. | Nur wenige wissen die Antwort. |
The Unknown and the Non-Existent
To emphasize that a thing is completely unspecified, German uses the prefix irgend-. For example, irgendetwas means "something" or "anything (at all)".
| Is something missing here? | Fehlt hier irgendetwas? |
| Do you need anything from the pharmacy? | Brauchen Sie irgendetwas aus der Apotheke? |
To express that something is in no location whatsoever, use nirgendwo (nowhere).
| We cannot find him anywhere. | Wir können ihn nirgendwo finden. |
| I cannot find my key anywhere. | Ich finde meinen Schlüssel nirgendwo. |
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