student asking question

If I replace "any idea" by "an idea", how does the meaning of the sentence change?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"An idea" would imply one single specific idea, perhaps thought of or formulated beforehand. Whereas "any idea" means out of all the possible ideas. "Do you have any idea?" also reads similarly to "Do you even know...?" Ex: Do you even know what a long plane ride that is? Ex: Do you have any idea how to fish? Ex: Do you have an idea of how to fish now that I've explained it? Ex: I don't have any idea how to sail a boat.

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