alguns

Alguns is a determiner and pronoun in Portuguese meaning “some” or “a few.” The masculine plural form is “alguns,” and the feminine plural form is “algumas.” The singular forms are “algum” (masculine) and “alguma” (feminine). It is used before a noun to indicate an unspecified portion of a larger group, or as a pronoun referring to an unspecified number of people or things.

Usage examples include: “Alguns estudantes chegaram cedo” (Some students arrived early) and “Conheci alguns na conferência” (I met some at the conference). The phrase can also appear as “algumas pessoas” (some people) or “alguns dias” (a few days), among other constructions.

Etymology and related forms: Algum/alguma/alguns/algumas derives from Latin aliquus/aliquum, passed into the Portuguese lexicon through old linguistic stages. Related forms appear in other Romance languages, such as Spanish alguno/alguna and French quelque, reflecting a common Indo-European root for expressing indefiniteness and quantity.

Notes on usage: In Brazilian and European Portuguese, these forms are standard for indicating non-specific subsets of a group. “Alguns” often implies a portion that is identifiable in context but not precisely enumerated, whereas other indefinite quantifiers like “uns” or “vários” can convey different nuances of number or informality. The feminine forms agree with the noun they modify or replace.

Overall, alguns functions as a flexible indefinite determiner and pronoun used to refer to a non-specific number of people or things within a larger set.