Using cualquier/a to say any in Spanish

Question

I saw the following on a back machine recently ‘ puedes operar con cualquiera de las tarjetas de crédito’. How does this fit with the contents of this lesson please

John O'Leary · Answer

Hola Hilary,The lesson states that "cualquiera" must accompany a noun which has taken an indefinite article, and must come after that noun. It is possible that there are exceptions and that the lesson only deals with the most common usage. It may be one of those regional variations but if we follow the lesson - as I understand it - it seems as if the sentence you saw is incorrect. I think it should read "....cualquier de las tarjetas de crédito." I'm sure the teachers can clarify this. Saludos. John

Owen Reissmann · Answer

I've read in grammar books that, although less common, cualquiera can also be used in this way--as a pronoun (like eso) meaning "any one."

Marcos Reál · Answer

We use "de" when we are choosing from a group.  For example, we could say "cualquiera de mis amigos" (any of my friends).  Your example chooses from a group of different types of credit cards, so we say, "cualquiera de las tarjetas de crédito" (any of the credit cards).