The amount and complexity of indefinite pronouns can be quite overwhelming. In this subchapter, every pronoun will be discussed in detail. If you would like to start with a quick overview, visit the summary? page first.
The indefinite pronoun
An indefinite pronoun refers to someone or something that is not specifically or exactly defined, e.g. some, every, all, or each.
Some indefinite pronouns can be used independently: "Everybody is happy." Other indefinite pronouns act as adjectives, which means that they precede a noun: "Every cat is happy."
Collective indefinite pronouns
Among the indefinite pronouns, there is a special category: the collective indefinite pronouns: all, every, each, everything, everyone, and everybody. They are defined as a separate class because they have a few features in common.
We will start with the collective indefinite pronouns. After that, we will move on to the rest: any, several, some, something, somebody, nothing, nobody, et cetera.
Pronominal adverbs
Among the indefinite pronouns, there are three pronouns that we can turn into pronominal adverbs? when we combine them with a preposition: we can turn alles into overal, iets into ergens, and niets can become nergens.
Remember: If, while going through the following pages, you feel like you are losing track of the overall picture, you can always jump to the summary?.