Some or Any

Anonymousin this sentence:
When did Tom have some problems with his sports car?
Why is there "some" and not "any" in the question?

Actually, neither sounded good to me. The more natural way to express this question will be: When did Tom start having problems with his sports car? Notice no quantifier is needed.
To answer, you may choose to include

I wouldn't use either one. This is a "When did you stop beating your wife?" question.
It assumes that he had problems.

When did Tom have problems with his sports car?

Did Tom have [some/any] problems with his sports car? You can use either or neither.

If you wish to challenge someone's statement or assertion, then I think you should use "any.

okay Avangi. But this is the conversation where I took the question from.

Tom: Well ... it's a very good car, and I never have any problems with it!

Susan: Never? But you had some problems with it just lat week, didn't you?

So, how come I cannot use "some" in the question if it is there in the sentence?

Thanks again Avangi

Thinkin

AnonymousBut you had some problems with it just lat week, didn't you?

But this is a tag question, which is really a statement.

You can ask, "Did you have any problems?" "Did you have some problems?" Both work.

It's the "when" that messes you up in your original post.

Statement: You had some problems. You had any problems

Avangi,

oho! This is an EXCELLENT explanation.

Thank yoy so much for it and for your patient!!

Thinking (Spain)

Dimsumexpress,

Thank you very much for your help and answer.

Thinking (Spain)