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I have not been able to find a definitive answer on using "some" in German. I've seen, irgend- words, etwas (Which I have come to know as something or some + an adjective: z.B. Dieser Kurs ist etwas langweilig.)

However, how would one use some by itself as a pronoun?

For example:

I want some too!

Could you give me some of that?

Etwas sounds wrong to me but I suppose it could work.

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    A general word of caution: The wider the possible range of application an English word has (which means, by extension, the more it is a "basic" part of the speech toolbox), the less likely you'll find one German word to cover all the instances. Since both your examples represent the same "meaning" of "some", you're more or less safe with the options and rules of thumb given in the answers. But do not assume that they're necessarily true for "some" in other contexts.
    – Mac
    Jan 17, 2014 at 12:56
  • Thank you for the heads-up. I do appreciate it as that seems to be quite true.
    – Dustin
    Jan 17, 2014 at 16:11

2 Answers 2

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"Ich will auch etwas" oder "Gibst Du mir auch etwas [ab]?" should work in most cases, or you could be more specific and say what you want: "Ich will auch ein Bier" or "Gibst Du mir auch ein Stück Kuchen?"

In colloquial talking, "etwas" can be shortened to "was".

Kids use "abgeben", e.g., when they ask to get some of another kid's candy.

"Einige" means "some".

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    Welche generally works, if it's a countable plural. Otherwise etwas is the version to use (if an uncountable mass-noun). "Du hast so viele Schokoriegel! Ich will auch welche!"
    – Ledda
    Jan 17, 2014 at 10:46
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The question "What is some?" is incredibly broad so I will focus only on the sentences you provided. If the noun is not countable, you'd use "etwas" or "was" just as Robert suggested in his answer.

Ich will auch was.

If the noun is in its essence countable, you'd use "ein paar". "Etwas" wouldn't work then.

Ich will auch ein paar.

Now, a pizza is countable but the whole of one pizza is not. You cannot have one of a pizza. You can only have one slice. So in this case you'd use "etwas". But for nachos for instance "ein paar" is better,because you want several items.

If you add "of that" to your sentence, a second notion comes in and "ein bisschen" might also be the best translation.

Ich will auch ein bisschen davon.

But that is subjective I suppose. And just to make sure... the irgend-words will NOT work in this context at all.

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  • I definitely agree (with this very old answer), but to avoid confusion I would suggest the spelling ’was.
    – Carsten S
    Apr 4, 2018 at 21:53
  • What do you mean with "the whole of one pizza is not (countable)"? I can count it: one pizza. Now I know what you mean, but that is not the way to express it, IMO. If you had said "as general term for the kind of food (pizza, as opposed to a single item, a pizza), pizza is not countable" I would agree.
    – Rudy Velthuis
    Apr 5, 2018 at 18:21

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