Indefinite Pronouns in Hebrew

In Brief

Hebrew uses מישהו for “someone,” משהו for “something,” אף אחד לא for “no one,” and שום דבר לא for “nothing.” Unlike standard English, a negative word normally appears together with לא: אף אחד לא בא means “Nobody came.” כל means “every” or “all,” while כמה can mean “some/several” as well as “how many.”

Overview

An indefinite pronoun refers to a person or thing without identifying exactly who or what: “someone,” “anything,” and “nobody” are English examples. Hebrew calls these forms כינויים בלתי מוגדרים. Some of the words in this group are true pronouns, meaning they can stand in place of a noun. Others, especially כל and כמה, normally come before a noun and act as quantity words.

This is an A2 topic because it lets you move beyond sentences about named people and specific objects. You need these forms to ask whether anyone is home, say that nothing happened, describe something interesting, or talk about every day and several questions.

The most important difference for an English-speaking learner is negation. English usually chooses either “nobody” or “not anybody.” Hebrew commonly uses a negative expression and the ordinary negative word לא in the same clause. This is standard Hebrew, not an accidental double negative.

How It Works

People and things: מישהו, מישהי, and משהו

מישהו means “someone” or “somebody.” When the person is known or presented as female, Hebrew can use מישהי. The distinction matters because Hebrew verbs and adjectives often show gender.

Form	Meaning	Typical agreement
מישהו	someone, somebody	masculine singular
מישהי	someone, somebody (female)	feminine singular
משהו	something	usually masculine singular

Compare מישהו התקשר (“someone called,” masculine verb form) with מישהי התקשרה (“someone called,” feminine verb form). If the speaker does not know the person’s identity or gender, מישהו is the usual general form.

משהו refers to a thing, idea, event, or unspecified amount. It often comes before an adjective: משהו מעניין (“something interesting”), משהו קטן (“something small”). English places “interesting” inside “something interesting”; Hebrew simply puts the adjective after משהו, as it normally does with nouns.

To say “someone’s” or “something’s,” spoken Hebrew often uses של: הטלפון של מישהו (“someone’s phone”). After a preposition, keep the whole pronoun: עם מישהו (“with someone”), על משהו (“about something”), למישהו (“to/for someone”).

No one and nothing: אף אחד לא and שום דבר לא

The basic negative patterns are:

Pattern	Literal pieces	Natural English
אף אחד לא + verb	not even one + not + verb	no one/nobody + verb
אף אחת לא + verb	not even one (feminine) + not + verb	no woman/girl + verb
שום דבר לא + verb	no thing + not + verb	nothing + verb

The verb agrees with אחד or אחת. Use masculine singular agreement with אף אחד and feminine singular agreement with אף אחת: אף אחד לא הגיע and אף אחת לא הגיעה. In a mixed or unspecified group, אף אחד is the general choice.

Keep לא when these expressions are the subject:

• אף אחד לא יודע. — Nobody knows.
• שום דבר לא השתנה. — Nothing changed.

They can also appear after a verb. Hebrew then normally marks a definite direct object (the person or thing directly affected by the action) with את:

• לא ראיתי אף אחד. — I did not see anyone.
• לא שמעתי שום דבר. — I did not hear anything.

Here לא comes before the verb, while אף אחד or שום דבר remains later in the sentence. Do not translate each Hebrew negative separately; understand the whole construction as one negative meaning.

שום can also come before a noun and mean “no” or, in a negative environment, “any”: אין שום בעיה (“There is no problem”), לא קיבלתי שום הודעה (“I didn’t receive any message”). The noun stays singular in many common expressions, although actual usage depends on what is being counted.

Every and all: כל

כל is written the same way in several patterns, but its pronunciation and meaning depend on what follows. Without vowel marks, context does the work.

Structure	Meaning	Example
כל + singular indefinite noun	every, each	כל יום — every day
כל + definite noun	all the, the whole	כל היום — all day/the whole day
כל + plural noun	all	כל האנשים — all the people
כולם / כולן	everyone, all of them	כולם כאן — everyone is here

Before a noun without the definite article ה־ (“the”), כל commonly means “every”: כל תלמיד (“every student”). Before a definite noun, it means “all the” or “the whole”: כל התלמידים (“all the students”), כל הספר (“the whole book”).

This contrast is especially useful:

• כל יום — every day
• כל היום — all day, the whole day

English uses two different words, but Hebrew changes the noun’s definiteness. A definite noun is one treated as specific, usually marked here by ה־.

The standalone forms כולם (masculine or mixed group) and כולן (all-female group) mean “everyone” or “all of them.” In fully pointed spelling they contain ו, and that spelling is also normal in unpointed modern texts.

Some, several, and how many: כמה

Before a plural countable noun, כמה can make either a statement or a question:

• יש לי כמה שאלות. — I have some/several questions.
• כמה שאלות יש לך? — How many questions do you have?

A question mark, intonation, and context normally make the meaning clear. The following noun is generally plural: כמה ימים (“several days/how many days”), כמה אנשים (“several people/how many people”). English speakers sometimes expect a separate Hebrew word for “several,” but כמה often does both jobs naturally.

When כמה means “how,” it can also appear in expressions outside this core pronoun topic, such as כמה זמן? (“How long?” or literally “how much time?”) and כמה זה עולה? (“How much does it cost?”).

Questions and positive answers

For a neutral question, Hebrew commonly uses מישהו or משהו where English may use “anyone” or “anything”:

• יש פה מישהו? — Is anyone here?
• אתה רוצה משהו? — Do you want anything?

In a positive answer, use the same forms: כן, יש פה מישהו (“Yes, someone is here”). Reserve אף אחד and שום דבר for a genuinely negative environment rather than treating them as automatic dictionary equivalents of English “anyone” and “anything.”

Examples in Context

Hebrew	English	Note
מישהו דפק בדלת.	Someone knocked on the door.	Unidentified person; masculine agreement
מישהי מחכה לך בחוץ.	Someone is waiting for you outside.	The person is female
אני רוצה משהו חם לשתות.	I want something hot to drink.	משהו followed by an adjective
דיברנו על משהו חשוב.	We talked about something important.	The preposition comes before the whole form
יש פה מישהו?	Is anyone here?	Neutral question uses מישהו
אף אחד לא בא.	Nobody came.	Standard negative pattern with לא
אף אחת לא ידעה את התשובה.	None of the women knew the answer.	Feminine form and agreement
לא ראינו אף אחד ברחוב.	We did not see anyone in the street.	Negative expression follows the verb
שום דבר לא קרה.	Nothing happened.	לא is required in the clause
לא קניתי שום דבר.	I did not buy anything.	Negative direct object
אין שום בעיה.	There is no problem.	שום modifies a noun
אני הולך לשם כל יום.	I go there every day.	Singular indefinite noun: “every”
עבדתי כל היום.	I worked all day.	Definite noun: “the whole”
כל האנשים חיכו בחוץ.	All the people waited outside.	כל before a definite plural noun
כולם כבר מוכנים.	Everyone is already ready.	Standalone masculine/mixed-group form
יש לי כמה שאלות.	I have some questions.	Statement: “some/several”
כמה שאלות יש לך?	How many questions do you have?	Question: “how many”

Common Mistakes

Leaving out לא after אף אחד or שום דבר

• Wrong: אף אחד בא.
• Right: אף אחד לא בא.
• Why: Standard Hebrew uses לא with the negative expression. The complete sentence means “Nobody came.”

Translating English “anyone” mechanically

• Wrong: יש פה אף אחד? for a neutral “Is anyone here?”
• Right: יש פה מישהו?
• Why: In a neutral question, Hebrew normally asks whether “someone” is present. אף אחד belongs naturally in negative constructions such as אין פה אף אחד (“There is nobody here”).

Confusing someone with something

• Wrong: משהו התקשר אליי.
• Right: מישהו התקשר אליי.
• Why: מישהו refers to a person; משהו refers to a thing, fact, or idea.

Using singular nouns after כמה when counting

• Wrong: כמה שאלה יש לך?
• Right: כמה שאלות יש לך?
• Why: With countable items, כמה is normally followed by a plural noun.

Missing the difference between כל יום and כל היום

• Wrong for “every day”: כל היום
• Right: כל יום
• Why: כל יום means “every day,” but כל היום means “all day” or “the whole day.” The definite article changes the meaning.

Ignoring gender when the person is known

• Less natural about a known woman: מישהו התקשר אליי.
• Better: מישהי התקשרה אליי.
• Why: Use מישהי and feminine verb agreement when you mean an unspecified female person. General מישהו remains normal when the person’s gender is unknown.

Usage Notes

In everyday speech, משהו can soften an estimate: חיכינו משהו כמו עשר דקות means “We waited something like ten minutes.” This is conversational rather than a precise count.

אף אחד literally contains the masculine word אחד (“one”), but it often covers people in general. Use אף אחת when the relevant set is explicitly female or when you want feminine agreement. Likewise, כולם covers a masculine or mixed group, while כולן is for an all-female group.

שום דבר is neutral and very common. In brief answers, speakers may simply say כלום (“nothing”): מה קרה? — כלום. (“What happened? — Nothing.”) In a full standard negative clause, כלום also appears with negation: לא קרה כלום (“Nothing happened”). This useful everyday form is related to the topic, though the A2 core set is שום דבר לא.

Most ordinary Hebrew writing omits vowel marks, and כל keeps the same unpointed spelling in “every” and “all” expressions. Read the whole noun phrase: the presence or absence of ה־ on the following noun is what separates כל יום (“every day”) from כל היום (“all day”).

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to produce all of these patterns at A2, but you will encounter them in natural Hebrew.

כל אחד and כל אחת mean “each one” or “everyone,” with an emphasis on individuals: כל אחד יכול ללמוד (“Anyone/everyone can learn”). With a following group introduced by מ־, the phrase means “each of”: כל אחד מהתלמידים (“each of the students”). The plural כולם views the group more collectively.

Hebrew can create more explicitly gendered or stylistically precise “some” forms with איזשהו, איזושהי, and their plural forms, roughly “some” or “a certain”: איזשהו רעיון (“some idea”), איזושהי סיבה (“some reason”). These forms agree with the noun and are useful when the noun itself is stated. For a beginner, מישהו, משהו, and כמה cover the most frequent needs.

Negative expressions can occur in clauses introduced by words such as “without”: הוא יצא בלי שאף אחד ראה אותו (“He left without anyone seeing him”). Here אף אחד is licensed by the negative idea in בלי (“without”), even though there is no separate לא in its clause. Treat this as a later syntax pattern; it does not change the beginner rule for ordinary statements: אף אחד לא....

A small change in word choice can also change the logical meaning:

• מישהו לא הגיע. — Someone did not arrive.
• אף אחד לא הגיע. — No one arrived.

The first says at least one person was absent; it does not say that everyone was absent. The second excludes every person in the relevant group. This distinction becomes important in detailed conversation and formal writing.

Practice Tips

1. Build four sentence pairs. Start with a positive sentence using מישהו or משהו, then make it negative with אף אחד לא or שום דבר לא: מישהו התקשר / אף אחד לא התקשר.
2. Drill the article contrast aloud. Alternate כל יום (“every day”) and כל היום (“all day”), then replace יום with other familiar nouns. This links meaning, definiteness, and pronunciation.
3. Listen for context around כמה. When you hear כמה + plural noun, decide whether it is a question (“how many?”) or a statement (“some/several”). Intonation and the rest of the sentence usually give the answer.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Personal Pronouns — review Hebrew gender and singular/plural agreement before using מישהו, מישהי, כולם, and כולן.