Dictionary of Spoken Russian/Russian-English/Section 23

§23. COMPOUNDS OF QUESTION WORDS

The interrogative pronouns кто, что (§20), interrogative adjectives, such as который "which," какой "what kind, which," and other question words, such as где "where," куда "whereto," откуда "wherefrom," когда "when," как "how," сколко "how much, how many," are compounded with various other words.

With ни before them they make negative; the words are run together in writing unless a preposition comes between: никто "nobody," ничто [nji što] "nothing" (usually in g form, ничего [nji čivo]), ни с кем "with nobody," никогда "never," and so on. Verbs take the negative: я никогда никому ничего не говорил об этом "I've never told anyone anything about this."

With stressed не there are two meanings. Some combinations have an indefinite meaning: несколько "a few," некоторый "some or another." Others are predicative, meaning "there is no": некого послать "there's no one to send," не с кем поговорить "there's no one to have a talk with," некогда читать "there's no time for reading."

With кое or кой, written with a hyphen, the words mean "one and another," кое-какйе знакомые "a few acquaintances here and there."

Followed by то, written with a hyphen, they mean "some," implying that there is some notice or identification: кто-то "somebody" (identified, heard, or otherwise noticed), когда-то "at a certain time, at some time" (which I can somehow identify).

Followed by нибудь, written with a hyphen, they mean "any" or "some," implying that there is no identification: кто-нибудь "anybody, anybody at all," как-нибудь "in some way or other, in any way." In writing and in bookish speech либо is sometimes used instead: кто-либо.