Meanwhile, in classical Latin, a double negation meant an affirmation, already the low Latin, and the Italian afterwards, used the second negation as reinforcement of the first one. If I can correct darkpeak, only in a singular sentence "alcuno" is admitted instead of "nessuno" and today the sentence given by DL tastes of literacy, or of stale, or of irony. I suppose that some contributors learned my language in not updated grammars. For E, I suppose that the grammars schools (the first, in the mediaeval time, to teach, where "teach" meant teach classical Latin) strictly followed the Latin of Cicero, dead centuries before.

thanks!

this may be the site referred to above by darkpeak: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/qualche-alcuni-o-dei/

Courtesy of the maniac Spike Jones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUoMKuHwSjQ

Nice!

Great comment! Clever!

Already answered that earlier in the comments. The standard Italian phrase would translate literally to English as "I don't have any answer" but the more common English phrase would be "I don't have any answers" so the more common English phrase is used to translate it, even though the Italian is in the singular.

...the plural would be "risposte", not "risposti" and we can say "Non ho risposte" = non ho nessuna risposta

For funnyiloveritali2: in case, risposte.

I was wondering that, too. I found that in positive phrases, "alcuno" means "some, a few" and mostly has a plural form (alcuni, alcune). In negative phrases though, "alcuno" means "any" and has a singular form (alcuno, alcuna).

Do what we all did (and often still do) hover over each word to get the meaning then put them in the right order. It almost always works. Eventually, you'll need to "peek" less and less.

Correct! (See above)

I think in this case the use of 'alcuna' makes it refer to 'some answers' or an amount rather than none! Beginner here too!

I replied "I don't have an answer" which would be the same as "I have no answer" but it was rejected.

There's no difference, and I've reported that as a problem. Honestly, they'll take a plural when the sentence uses a singular, but reject it if you don't use "got"? Sheesh.

If I ask you a question (where is the store), your response might be an answer (the store is on the next street) or might be a comment or reply (I don't know, please don't bother me), so there is a subtle difference.

From what I’ve gathered reading these discussions, “alcuno/a” (singular) means “some or a few,” but “qualsiasi” (singular) means “whatever or whichever” (with an inference of choice, as in “whichever you prefer”). So these seem very different in the singular.

Maybe what you meant to ask was what the difference is between “alcuni/e” (plural) and “qualsiasi” (plural), which both mean “any.”

I could also assume you meant to ask the difference between “alcuna” and “qualche,” because that’s what I was wondering. And after doing some light internet surfing, I came across this: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/qualche-alcuni-o-dei/

I hope this helps!

Well, yes. You need the "an" before answer, or "any" before answers. However, there are contexts where in the plural only, "I do not have answers" would be justified.

In english you need the 'an' or its not correct english

But that's not the translation here. It's not that they're waiting for someone to give them an answer but that they don't have one to give. And 'have had' would be a completely different construction.

Another means "un'altra", not "alcuna"

"I have no replies" is in the database and should be accepted. "I haven't had any replies" is not correct because it uses the present perfect (have had), while the original sentence uses the present (have).

On the other hand, some people ain't got no ... satisfaction.

In a question or a negative sentence 'some' becomes 'any'.

You have some friends.

You don't have any friends.

Do you have any friends?

She buys something new.

She didn't buy anything new.

Did she buy anything new?