Translating "either"
 

Hi all,
I was wondering what's the proper way to present two options in Spanish. For example, if I wanted to say:

"Either you're going with them, staying with me, or you're staying here." or "The answer is either yes or no".

If you look in a dictionary, it will just suggest "tampoco", but I figure that's for saying things like "I don't want to go either". I'm looking for something which hypothesizes two or more possible scenarios.

either/or y/o

The translation of "either" depends of the position of the word in the sentence and how it works (there are many ways to translate it). In your examples, it could be "o" (or nothing at all):

- Vas con ellos o te quedas conmigo o te quedas aquí.
- La respuesta es sí o no.


When you say "I don't want to stay here, but I don't want to go with them either", you use "tampoco":

- No me quiero quedar, pero tampoco quiero ir con ellos.

either ... or ... = o ... o ...

I don't recall any instance of "either" used as a conjunction that might call for any other translation

"O te vas con ellos o te quedas aquí".

either = tampoco ---> at the end of a phrase, when "either" is an adverb intended as an intensive following a negative statement.

If you don't go, I won't either ---> Si no vas, yo tampoco voy.

either = cualquier/a (de los/las dos)---> when "either" is intended as an adjective meaning "one or the other"

Take either umbrella ---> toma cualquiera de los dos [paraguas]

either = ambos ---> when "either" is intended as an adjective meaning "one and the other" (in a negative form you can use "ningún", but there's always a simpler and more elegant way to say it)

numbness in either arms = entumecimiento en ambos brazos
she doesn't have any numbness in either arms = no tiene entumecidos los brazos.