Thread: Something vs. anything

My dictionaries are giving me the same answer for both "something and anything". So I am confused. When does one use "что-нибудъ" vs. кое-что??? Thanks........

Originally Posted by Haksaw

My dictionaries are giving me the same answer for both "something and anything". So I am confused. When does one use "что-нибудъ" vs. кое-что??? Thanks........

Что-то - something
Что-нибудь - anything

kinda... It's important to realize that you can't translate between English and Russian one-to-one. How you translate "something" and "anything" depends VERY much on context.

There's probably a thread... search around...

I thought that кое-что was used when you had something in particular in mind that you were speaking of. ....Or was it the other way around......

Originally Posted by DDT

I thought that кое-что was used when you had something in particular in mind that you were speaking of. ....Or was it the other way around......

Like in the sense of, "I think it was a pony or something"

Что-то, "something," implies something definite. Что-нибудь, "something," implies that several choices may exist, and thus can sometimes be translated "anything."

Вы хотите Что-то? Do you want something? (For example, the person addressed has been eyeing your pen)
Вы хотите Что-нибудь? Do you want something? (You show someone a platter of hors d'oeuvres)

http://masterrussian.net/mforum/viewtop ... 2%EE#76916
http://masterrussian.net/mforum/viewtop ... E%E5#59227

Originally Posted by challenger

Что-то, "something," implies something definite. Что-нибудь, "something," implies that several choices may exist, and thus can sometimes be translated "anything."

Вы хотите что-то? Do you want something? (For example, the person addressed has been eyeing your pen)
Вы хотите что-нибудь? Do you want something? (You show someone a platter of hors d'oeuvres)

Originally Posted by challenger

Что-то, "something," implies something definite. Что-нибудь, "something," implies that several choices may exist, and thus can sometimes be translated "anything."

Вы хотите Что-то? Do you want something? (For example, the person addressed has been eyeing your pen)
Вы хотите Что-нибудь? Do you want something? (You show someone a platter of hors d'oeuvres)

"Вы хотите что-то" sounds a little strange. I would say "Вы хотите что-нибудь"
Что-нибудь - may be translated as "something" and "anything"
FAI: Bring me something I want to see (Принеси ме что-нибудь, что я хочу видеть)
Is there anything you want? (Тебе что-нибудь нужно?)

Вы что-то хотите мне сказать?
Скажите хоть что-нибудь!

Originally Posted by Dimitri

Originally Posted by challenger

Что-то, "something," implies something definite. Что-нибудь, "something," implies that several choices may exist, and thus can sometimes be translated "anything."

Вы хотите что-то? Do you want something? (For example, the person addressed has been eyeing your pen)
Вы хотите что-нибудь? Do you want something? (You show someone a platter of hors d'oeuvres)

I know, I was too lazy to change the capital letters I cut & pasted from a previous post...

I thought of another one:

Я забыл что-нибудь? Did I forget something?
Да, Вы забыли что-то. Yes, you forgot something.

Originally Posted by challenger

Да, Вы забыли что-то. Yes, you forgot something.

This "что-то" will mean
"you forgot something, I don't know what is it"

Да, вы кое-что забыли
This one would be more common.

Shto-to is more specific than shto-nibud'.

"Ty mne skazal shto-to sevodnya, no ya zabyl, shto eto bylo" - You told me something today, but I forgot what it was. (I think this is more Koe-shto)

Shto-nibud on the other hand, translates to 'something' that, in reality, means 'anything', so:

"Skazhi shto-nibud" would mean "Say something!". You can see that that 'something' in that sentence actually means 'anything.