So, of course, I know words like 多い, たくさん, 少ない, 少し, and 何+[counter]+か to
express "many", "few", "a few", and "some" in most contexts. However, I have
absolutely no idea what are the Japanese equivalents for these words when
they're used on their own to mean people. Sure, 多い人, 少ない人, and 何人か do the job
too, but I'm sure there must be some more refined way to say this as well, at
least for the first two. Google isn't really a big help with this, since
searches like "japanese many few" and "japanese grammar many people few
people" only yield pages like "BEGINNER JAPANESE: How To Use OOI And
SUKUNAI!!" etc.

For example, how would you translate these sentences into Japanese?

  * "Some were surprised, many were not."
  * "Few understand the value of health before they lose it."
  * "A few benefited from the loss of many."
  * "Many belittled the few who stood out."
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2019-05-06T11:14:22.913
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question
word-choice nuances numbers written-language
How do you say "some", "many", "a few", and "few" when referring to people?
I would translate like this:

> Some were surprised, many were not.
>
> 驚く人もいれば、ほとんどは呆然としていた。
>
> Few understand the value of health before they lose it.
>
> 健康の大事さを失う前に理解する人はほとんど居ない。
>
> A few benefited from the loss of many.
>
> 大勢の損が限られた人数に得した。

I'm not really sure with last one.
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2019-05-06T14:36:38.803
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少数の人は驚いたが 多数は驚いていない

病気になる前に健康のありがたみが分かる人が少ない

多くの人の損が一部の人の得になった

多くの人は目立った人を見くびった
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2019-06-05T23:38:13.297
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For example,

There are some people in the park(幾人か(or 何人か)公園にいる).

There are many people in the park(たくさん(大勢)の人が公園にいる).

There are a few people in the park(数人が公園にいる).

There are few people in the park(公園にはほとんど人はいない).

I translated your examples as follows.

Some were surprised, many were not.(驚いた人もいたが、大半は驚かなかった。)

Few understand the value of health before they lose
it.(健康を失う前にその価値を理解する人は少ない。)

A few benefited from the loss of many.(多くの人から搾取し、一部の少数の人が利益を得た。)

Many belittled the few who stood out.(多くの人が稀な傑出した人達を見くびった。)

I learned that "a few" means 少しはある and "few" means 少ししかない, ほとんどない.
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answer