Certain in Spanish
The indefinite adjective cierto is used in Spanish meaning "certain". As an adjective it must agree with the noun it is modifying:
cierto lugar
a certain place (masculine)
cierta persona
a certain person (feminine)
ciertos amigos
certain friends (masculine plural)
ciertas ideas
certain ideas (feminine plural)
The same way as certain is used in English, cierto/-a/-os/-as refers to one/some (something/person/some things/ people) but you are being more specific than when using other indefinite adjectives like "algún, alguna, algunos, algunas" (some).
Here are some examples:
Ciertos vecinos se han quejado de la limpieza del bloque.Certain neighbours have complained about the cleaning on the block.
Sometimes, the meaning of cierto is "a bit of/partial", for example:
Cierto can also mean "verdadero/seguro" (true/truthful/sure/reliable). In this case, used with a noun, the adjective cierto is placed after the noun. For example:
Here is a list of expressions using the word "cierto":
- de cierta manera (somehow/in a way)
- en cierto modo (somehow/in a way)
- hasta cierto punto (to a certain extent)
- estar en lo cierto ( to be right/correct)
- dar por cierto [algo] (to assume)
- por cierto (by the way)
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