asko / gutxi / batzuk / zenbait

1. What they mean.

• asko: a lot of, many, much (jende asko, liburu asko)
• gutxi: few, little, not much (diru gutxi, ikasle gutxi)
• batzuk: some, a few (lagun batzuk); it is the plural of bat
• zenbait: some, several (zenbait lagun); more common in writing than in speech

2. Word order. asko, gutxi and batzuk follow the noun and any adjective: etxe zahar asko (a lot of old houses). In some Northern speech and in older writing, asko can also come first (asko gizon, many men); the standard order is gizon asko. zenbait usually comes first, like a number (see numbers and nouns).

3. The verb. With batzuk the verb must be plural: Ume batzuk etorri dira. With asko, gutxi and zenbait both are correct: Liburu asko erosi dut or ditut. A word for a group of people, like jende, keeps the verb singular: Jende asko dago.

4. Endings go at the end. The case ending goes on the last word, in its no-article form (see endings without the article): jende askori (to many people), herri askotan (in many towns), zenbait lagunekin (with some friends). batzuk becomes batzue-: lagun batzuekin. Time words in the "when" form usually take the singular article instead: denbora gutxian (in a short time), urte askoan (for many years).

5. "A little" is not gutxi. gutxi sounds like "not much". For a friendly "a little", say pixka bat: Diru pixka bat daukat (I have a little money) but Diru gutxi daukat (I don't have much money). For "a few", use batzuk.