alguno o un

Question

There is an example in one of the lessons that says.

Do you have a pencil?

¿Tienes algún lápiz?

Where as you can see if you translate from English it would be:

¿Tienes un lápiz?

Can you use either in Spanish or does it need to be alguno?

Great question, alexengijon. - Izanoni1, Apr 15, 2010

Answer 1

You can use either, in the same way you can use "a" or "some / any" in English.

Strictly speaking, "Do you have a pencil?" should be "¿Tienes un lápiz?"

"¿Tienes algún lápiz?" should translate as "Do you have some kind of pencil?"

However, it is not wrong to translate it the way it is in your example.

Answer 2

I think you can use it both ways. I know I always use "Tienes un lápiz, pluma, etc."