Is “J'en ai” the best way to say “I have some”?
What's the difference between “J'en ai” and, “j'ai un peu”, or “j'ai quelque chose”?
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1"j'en ai un peu" = i have a little (of that thing we were talking about) "j'en ai" = i have some (of that thing we were talking about). "j'ai un peu" is ungrammatical.– hunterNov 15, 2015 at 22:40
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As @hunter mentions, “j’en ai un peu” adds the notion of “a little” when discussing [uncountable] things. To add the notion of “a few” when discussing countable nouns or people, “J’en ai quelques-uns/quelques-unes” would perhaps be better than “J’en ai un peu”: “Du vin? Oui, j’en ai un peu.”--“Des bouteilles de vin/copains? Oui, j’en ai quelques-unes/-uns.” Just as “J’ai un peu” alone is incorrect (as mentioned by hunter & jlliagre), “j’ai quelques-un(e)s” would perhaps also be wrong w/out either the “en” or else a following “de” clause (not sure about any of this so please don’t quote me!).– Papa PouleNov 16, 2015 at 15:28
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1 Answer
J'en ai is a good translation of "I have some".
J'ai un peu alone is incorrect, you should state what it is about, e.g.:
J'ai un peu d'argent -> I have some money.
J'ai quelque chose is correct French but while j'en ai is used when your party knows exactly what you are talking about, J'ai quelque chose is used to state you have something but without telling precisely what it is, i.e. "I have something".
