TKG English Learner's Dictionary

somebody

somebodypronoun

American /ˈsʌmˌbɑd.i/ British /ˈsʌmˌbɒd.i/ The strongest stress is on the first part, with lighter stress on bod: SUM-bah-dee.
very commondefining vocabulary

  1. a person who is not named or not known, or whose identity does not matter

    Somebody is used mainly in positive statements to mean a particular but unnamed person: somebody called for you. In questions and negative sentences, anybody is usually used instead: did anybody call?, not did somebody call?, unless the speaker has a particular person in mind.

    Collocations

    phrase somebody else

    Synonyms someone

    Compare anybody (anybody is used mainly in questions and negatives; somebody is used mainly in positive statements)

    For translators (sense 1)

    Grammar trap Somebody usually shifts to anybody when a sentence becomes a question or a negative (Somebody called becomes Did anybody call?), but somebody is kept when the speaker has a particular person in mind.

Word family

Usage

Somebody and someone mean the same thing and can normally replace each other; someone is more common in writing.

Common mistakes

Did somebody see my keys? Did anybody see my keys?
In a question with no particular person in mind, anybody is the usual choice, not somebody.

See also someone; anybody