何(なに)か

USAGE: 何(なに)か points at a thing without identifying it. In statements it is "something"; in questions and conditionals it is "anything". Before an adjective it works adverbially and means "somehow".

NO PARTICLE AFTER IT:
何(なに)か normally drops the が or を that its grammatical role would call for: 何(なに)か食(た)べる, not 何(なに)かを食(た)べる. Other particles do attach: 何(なに)かに使(つか)う (use it for something).

THREE USES:
1. Something (statement): 何(なに)か音(おと)がした (I heard something)
2. Anything (question or conditional): 何(なに)かあったら (if anything happens)
3. Somehow (adverbial, before an adjective or a feeling): 何(なに)か変(へん)だ (something feels off)

COMMON PATTERNS:

• 何(なに)か飲(の)む (to drink something)
• 何(なに)か用(よう)ですか (Can I help you? / Do you need something?)
• 何(なに)か手伝(てつだ)おうか (Shall I help with something?)

SPOKEN VARIANT:
なんか is the casual contraction. It covers the same ground but also works as a filler word and as a dismissive "things like", so it is not a free substitute in careful speech.

THE か SERIES:

• 誰(だれ)か (someone)
• どこか (somewhere)
• いつか (sometime)

Each pairs with a も form that requires a negative: 何(なに)も (nothing at all).