"One" in Spanish

Question

Hi all,

Hopefully this hasn't been answered before; if so please re-direct me.

I am trying to get the nuances of the Spanish pronouns down, but I don't have a good indication if there is a special pronoun for "one" in the sense that it is used in English.

Examples: (referring to a pencil) "I need one." (referring to a doctor) "I need a good one." etc.

Am I supposed to use le or la depending upon the gender of the noun here? Would that also translate as "one" or only "him/her"?

THANKS!

Please fill out your profile so that we may better help you. Bienvenido y buena suerte amiga. - ray76, Jul 15, 2014

There is quite a good translator above , please try to work it out and we can correct you , always a better way to learn . - ray76, Jul 15, 2014

Gracias Ray - ian-hill, Jul 15, 2014

"One" can also be used like this - "One must be sure". Uno debe estar seguro. - ian-hill, Jul 15, 2014

Answer 1

Uno or una would be my choice, to match the gender of the noun:

Necesito un lápiz. Necesito uno.

Necesito un médico bueno. Necesito uno bueno. Necesito uno que sea bueno.

Necesito una bebida. Necesito una. Necesito una alcohólica. Necesito una que contenga mucho alcohol. (these four don't all say the same thing).

I can translate what I wrote if needed.

To help:

Necesito uno/una= I need one.

Lo/la necesito= I need it/him/her.

Los/las necesito= I need them.

Necesito eso/ese/esa= I need that (one)

Necesito esto/este/esta= I need this (one)

Just my opinion as an intermediate level learner.

Late edit to add:

I should have also pointed out that "one" is left out when referring to a specific one: el bueno by itself can mean "the good one"; in this case you would use a personal a as well if referring to a person, as it is a specific person; Necesito al bueno (I need the good one)- if, eg, I know that there are two doctors and that only one is good, and that is the one I need.

good answer - 00b055e0, Jul 15, 2014

:) - FELIZ77, Jul 15, 2014