a number of

English

Phrase

a number of

1. Several.

   A number of people have commented on it.

   There are a number of problems with the log-in system.

2. Several of.

   I spoke with a number of them about it.

Usage notes

• This is a leading example of the structure of a partitive construction. Other words that behave the same way as number does are dozen, quantity, score, hundred, army, lakh, mob, lot, plethora, myriad, herd.

Related terms

• any number of

Translations

several

• Azerbaijani: bir sıra, bir neçə
• Belarusian: не́калькі (be) (njékalʹki)
• Bulgarian: ня́колко (bg) (njákolko)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幾個／几个 (zh) (jǐgè), 一些 (zh) (yīxiē), 若干 (zh) (ruògān)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: moni (fi)
• Portuguese: um número de, uma quantidade de, um tanto de
• Russian: ряд (ru) m (rjad), не́сколько (ru) (néskolʹko)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: кі́лька (uk) (kílʹka), де́кілька (dékilʹka)

several of

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幾個／几个 (zh) (jǐgè), 一些 (zh) (yīxiē), 若干 (zh) (ruògān)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: moni (fi)
• Portuguese: um tanto de
• Russian: ряд (ru) m (rjad), не́сколько (ru) (néskolʹko)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: кі́лька (uk) (kílʹka)