Quantity Words: All, Some, None

To say how much or how many, put one of these words before the noun: הַרְבֵּה (a lot, many), קְצָת (a little), מְעַט (few, little), כַּמָּה (a few, several), מַסְפִּיק (enough) or עוֹד (more, another). None of them changes for gender or number, and the noun after them stays exactly as it is, as in הַרְבֵּה כֶּסֶף, a lot of money, or הַרְבֵּה עֲבוֹדָה, a lot of work.

The only thing to decide is the noun's own number, by the rule you met with כַּמָּה? in the lesson on question words: a thing you count is plural (הַרְבֵּה אֲנָשִׁים, many people), a thing you don't count stays singular (הַרְבֵּה זְמַן, a lot of time). In the sense of “a few”, כַּמָּה only goes with things you count, so its noun is always plural: כַּמָּה דַּקּוֹת, a few minutes.

רֹב (rov), most, goes straight before the noun like the first noun of a smikhut, so the הַ goes on the noun after it: רֹב הָאֲנָשִׁים, most people; רֹב הַזְּמַן, most of the time. Hebrew keeps that הַ even where English has no “the”. The verb normally agrees with the noun rather than with רֹב, as in רֹב הָאֲנָשִׁים חוֹשְׁבִים, most people think. A singular verb agreeing with רֹב itself is not wrong, but it sounds formal.

חֵלֶק (khelek), a part, takes מֵ־ (of) instead: חֵלֶק מֵהַתַּלְמִידִים, some of the students, and here too the verb normally agrees with the noun. “Both” is the short form of two from the numbers lesson before a definite noun: שְׁנֵי הַיְלָדִים, both children or the two children; שְׁתֵּי הַבָּנוֹת, both girls.

In the lesson on sentence structure you saw that Hebrew needs both negatives: אַף אֶחָד לֹא בָּא, nobody came. Here is the whole family: אַף אֶחָד, nobody, or אַף אַחַת for women; כְּלוּם, nothing; שׁוּם with a noun, no … at all (שׁוּם דָּבָר, nothing; בְּשׁוּם מָקוֹם, nowhere); and אַף פַּעַם, never. In a full sentence each of them still needs a negative word, לֹא (usually before the verb) or אֵין for “there is no”: לֹא קָנִיתִי כְּלוּם, I didn't buy anything; אֵין פֹּה אַף אֶחָד, there's nobody here.

A short answer with no verb is different: the negative word is complete on its own, with no לֹא. Asked מִי בָּא (who came?), you answer אַף אֶחָד, nobody; asked מָה קָנִיתָ (what did you buy?), you answer כְּלוּם, nothing.

Hebrew builds its “some” words from question words by adding ־שֶׁהוּ (-shehu): מִי, who, gives מִישֶׁהוּ, someone; מָה, what, gives מַשֶּׁהוּ, something; אֵיפֹה, where, gives אֵיפֹשֶׁהוּ, somewhere; and אֵיזֶה, which, gives אֵיזֶשֶׁהוּ, some, before a noun. For a woman it is מִישֶׁהִי, and before a feminine noun אֵיזוֹשֶׁהִי. For time there is פַּעַם, once or ever, and also מָתַישֶׁהוּ, from מָתַי, sometime.

These are the words for statements and questions, as in יֵשׁ פֹּה מִישֶׁהוּ, is anyone here? In a negative answer each one switches to its partner from the previous chapter: לֹא, אֵין פֹּה אַף אֶחָד. So English “anyone” has more than one translation: מִישֶׁהוּ in a question, אַף אֶחָד after a negative, and כָּל אֶחָד when it means any person at all, as in כָּל אֶחָד יָכוֹל, anyone can.