a few

English

Determiner

a few

1. A small number of; more than two.

   After a dismal few months my life at long last changed for the better.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

     "I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. […]"

Translations

a small number of

• Arabic: قَلِيل (ar) (qalīl)
• Bashkir: бер нисә (ber nisə)
• Belarusian: не́калькі (be) pl (njékalʹki)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幾個／几个 (zh) (jǐgè), 一些 (zh) (yīxiē), 若干 (zh) (ruògān)

• Czech: několik (cs)
• Esperanto: kelkaj (eo)
• Finnish: muutama (fi), jokunen (fi)
• French: quelques (fr)
• German: einige (de), ein paar (de)
• Haitian Creole: kèk
• Hebrew: כמה (he) (kama)
• Hungarian: néhány (hu), pár (hu), egypár (hu)
• Irish: cúpla m
• Italian: pochi (it), alcuni (it)
• Korean: 약간 (ko) (yakgan)
• Macedonian: не́колку (mk) (nékolku), ма́лку (mk) (málku)
• Maore Comorian: wana class 2
• Polish: kilka (pl), kilku (pl), niewiele (pl), niewielu
• Portuguese: alguns (pt), uns (pt)
• Russian: не́сколько (ru) (néskolʹko), немно́го (ru) (nemnógo)
• Spanish: unos (es), algunos (es)
• Swahili: uchache wa
• Swedish: några (sv)
• Ukrainian: декілька (dekilʹka), небага́то (nebaháto)
• Wutunhua: -jhege
• Yiddish: אַ פּאָר (a por)

Pronoun

a few

1. A small number of things.

   Regrets, I've had a few, but then again too few to mention.

   Did everyone go home? --No, a few (of them) are still chatting.

Usage notes

A few and few without a differ in emphasis. Few emphasizes that the number is not as large as expected, while a few emphasizes the fact that the number, while small, is not zero but more than two.

Compare:

I was expecting lots of people at the party, but few turned up.

I wasn't expecting any young people at the party, but a few turned up.

Note that when a few is preceded by another determiner, a is dropped. The few and every few mean “the group of a few” and “every group of a few” respectively.

Derived terms

• quite a few

Translations

a small number of things

• Arabic: قَلِيل (ar) (qalīl)
• Belarusian: не́калькі (be) pl (njékalʹki)
• Bulgarian: ня́колко (bg) (njákolko)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 啲 (yue) (di¹)

  Hokkien: 一寡 (zh-min-nan) (chi̍t-kóa)

  Mandarin: 幾個／几个 (zh) (jǐgè), 一些 (zh) (yīxiē), 若干 (zh) (ruògān)

• Czech: několik (cs)
• Finnish: muutama (fi), jokunen (fi)
• French: quelques-uns (fr)
• German: einige (de), wenige (de), ein paar (de)
• Hindi: कुछ (hi) (kuch)
• Irish: cúpla m, beagán (ga) m
• Italian: pochi (it), un pò di
• Japanese: 幾つか (ja) (いくつか, ikutsuka), 少数 (ja) (しょうすう, shōsū), 二、三の (に、さんの, ni, san no)
• Korean: 몇 (ko) (myeot)
• Macedonian: не́колку (mk) (nékolku)
• Polish: kilka (pl)
• Portuguese: um pouco (pt)
• Romanian: câțiva m pl, câteva f pl or n pl
• Russian: не́сколько (ru) (néskolʹko), немно́го (ru) (nemnógo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: не̏колико

  Roman: nȅkoliko (sh)

• Slovak: niekoľko
• Slovene: nekaj (sl)
• Spanish: pocos (es)
• Tamil: ஒரு சில (oru cila)
• Telugu: కొన్ని (te) (konni) (things), కొందరు (te) (kondaru) (people)
• Ukrainian: де́кілька (dékilʹka)
• Urdu: کُچھ (kuch)
• Vietnamese: một vài (vi)
• Yiddish: אַ פּאָר (a por)

Anagrams

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