Uses of cualquier

Question

I have been looking at the word of the day posts for cualquier, and I have a question. On the answers section, have people been using the word correctly? It seems that it is being used as simply "any" most of the time. My friend, who is a native speaker, says that cualquier is used more as "whatever" or "whenever". When used as "an", it seems to be meaning "anytime".

• I had the same thought, but I'm waiting for the corrections to see what happens. - rabbitwho Jan 27, 2012
• I also thought it could mean: whenever, at any time etc. and that's in Spain...It's used a lot, that's for sure. - annierats Jan 27, 2012

Answer 1

I asked some native speakers to explain their use of "cualquier" + sustantivo (noun). They all said they use it to mean "any" or any____" as in:

Los derechos humanos están vigentes en cualquier situación. Human rights are valid in any situation.

but it can also mean "whatever" as in:

El cliente es libre de dar cualquier valor que quiera como donación. The client is free to give whatever value that they want as a donation.

In the above case, an English speaker could replace "whatever" with "any" and get essentially the same meaning.

Also, it could mean a response of "Whatever . . ." (or even whenever) as in "who cares" or "it is not important" especially as a response to a question or exclamation, such as:

¡Los futbolistas perdieron el partido! . . . Cualquier(a).

Of course, cualquiera has other uses beyond this, and, of course, I only gleaned what I could understand. But I will keep asking for examples, from native speakers.

Answer 2

You have an important point, which is why having the input of native hispanoparlantes is necessary. According to what I have learned (through classes, travel, and work) was the broader definition, in line with what the La Palabra del Día thread suggested. If other native speakers are reading this post, maybe they can provide insight. I will also ask la gente about this as I'll be in México later today.

Just a note:

In my dictionary, which obviously does not necessarily reflect colloquialisms, the definition of cualquier as a contraction of cualquiera gives "any" as in en cualquier momento = at any moment or any time cualquier cosa = any thing cualquier persona = any person en cualquier lado = anywhere

• Hey! If your answer is something along the lines of "That's a good question, I don't know either" it's a good idea to answer in the comments, native speakers are less likely to see a question that's already been answered - rabbitwho Jan 27, 2012
• Thanks, rabbitwho. ¿Sabes cómo borrar las entradas (que ya entradas)? - xocoyote Jan 27, 2012

Answer 3

Could it be that the problem here is with the English rather than the Spanish? "Any", "whatever" and "whichever" can all mean exactly the same thing and differ only in how readily they express an idea. "Cualquier vez" could easily mean "any time", "whatever time" and (stretching it a bit) "whichever time" - and mean much the same thing. I run into the reverse of this problem with "cada" (is it each? every? everyone/every single? individual (yes, turned out to be used to differentiate individual instances from among a group and not quite mean each or every ...) Tambien, creo el contexto es importante.

Answer 4

I just dropped into this discussion since I have also been having a lot of difficulty understanding the use of cualquier. I hear it on my spanish radio station that I listen to everyday but I really do not catch what they are using it for. The only way to really understand the use is to see it in sentences as xocoyote is showing. I found a very good lesson which I will share and it has some good example sentences.

about.com cualquier

When you get there click on the other lessons that are related and you will get more sentences.