ein bisschen

[Heather Bounaouara]

Why is the 'b' in "ein bisschen" not a capital?
This word is surely a noun.

[linguoboy]

That's debatable. Duden calls it a pronoun and considers it equivalent to either the quantifier wenig or the indefinite pronoun etwas, which is also uncapitalised.

I would only consider it a noun in the literal use of "a little bite". I honestly can't remember the last time I saw it used that way. (See: http://www.canoo.net/spelling/bisschen.)

[Heather Bounaouara]

Thank you very much Linguoboy for such a clear and concise answer.

[Heather Bounaouara]

I would consider it to be a quantifier rather than an indefinite pronoun. Would you agree?

[linguoboy]

I would consider it to be a quantifier rather than an indefinite pronoun. Would you agree?

When a noun follows, yes. But that's not invariably the case. In a sentence like, "Gib mir einfach nur ein bisschen", I think it's best analysed as a pronoun. Isn't that how you would analyse "a little" in English expressions like "Not too much, I only want a little"?

[Heather Bounaouara]

Yes, thank you for clarifying this for me.

[Heather Bounaouara]

I think there's confusion on my part as other quantifiers, such as 'Duzend' are classed as nouns and, so, are capitalised.