か as a suffix to mean "a few": Why is 何__かがVERB not allowed


Here is yet another puzzling sentence for me from a dictionary I am using:

> 何ページ **か** 欠けている。 A few pages are missing. (研究社)

My understanding is that while `何ページ` ambiguously means "`what/which/how many
page/pages`," adding **か** as a suffix to it limits the meaning to "`a few
pages`." This applies to common usages such as `いくつか`, `何人か`, etc.

What I do not understand is why there is not a subject marker after this
**か**. When I saw the sentence, I expected to see **が** between the verb and
the subject. On HiNative, a native speaker gave me either "`35ページが欠ける`" or
"`何ページか欠ける`," but not "`何ページかが欠ける`." On top of that, a Google search using a
similarly structured phrase "`何個か欠ける`" yielded 1,700 results, whereas
"`何個かが欠ける`" did none. I messed around using other combinations such as
`かけている`, `欠ける`, etc. Still, `かが+欠ける` is simply non-existent.

~~Notwithstanding the above situation, usages like "`何人かが`" or "`何個かが`" seems
to be extremely common (bar false positives), not to mention taking **は** into
consideration. "`何人かは`" and the like are prevalent as well.~~  
EDITED: **This claim was wrong.`何__かが` practically yields no results. Please
see my edit note at the bottom.**

What sorcery is this? Now, `欠ける` is plain and simple an intransitive verb, so
transitivity being the culprit is out of the question. Other sample sentences
in the dictionary show `欠ける` used with **が/は** , and with either an animate
subject or one that is inanimate. Thus, these are not the factors either.

My only feasible, makeshift theory is that this is a chance encounter where
the denizens of the Net simply do not fancy putting `何__かが` beside `欠ける.` Not
plausible enough as I have nothing concrete to back this up. I am at my wit's
end.

<(_ _)>この通りです。よろしくお願いいたします！

**Edit explanation:**

Sorry about this folks, but I made a serious mistake by assuming Google's
search results count was trustworthy. As it turned out, as Eversome kindly
pointed out below, "`何__かが`" actually yielded almost zero results no matter
what counter we put in between. My bad.

This change of situation means that my question above was in effect partially
based on false assumptions. No, **__かが** is not allowed **at all**.

**The new question: Why is`何__かがVERB`not allowed?**




This is simply because we don't usually use が to express the number of
something. I think you already know (子供が)3人いる, (リンゴが)5個ある, (本を)3冊買う and so on
are grammatical. `Number + counter` can work as a noun too (e.g., 3人が集まった),
but it's relatively uncommon. In addition, ページ is a tricky counter that means
both " _n_ pages" and " _n_ -th page", depending on the context. If you use が,
people usually take it as " _n_ -th page".

>   * 5ページ欠けている。 = Five pages are missing.
>   * 5ページ **が** 欠けている。 = Page 5 is missing.
>

Likewise, 何ページか欠けている does not require が because it's about the number of
pages.

**EDIT:** 何ページ often means "which page", whereas 何人/何個 does not mean "which
person/one".

>   * 何ページ欠けているのですか？ = How many pages are missing?
>   * 何ページが欠けているのですか？ = Which page is missing?
>   * 何ページ読んだ？ = How many pages did you read?
>   * 何ページを読んだ? = Which page did you read?
>   * 何人欠けているのですか？ = 何人が欠けているのですか？ = How many people are missing/absent? (The
> former is more common)
>

So you have to pay special attention when you use が/を with ページ. 何ページかが欠けている is
probably grammatical and unambiguous, but it sounds a little unnatural to me,
and it's not something people usually say.




This is simply because we don't usually use が to express the number of
something. I think you already know (子供が)3人いる, (リンゴが)5個ある, (本を)3冊買う and so on
are grammatical. `Number + counter` can work as a noun too (e.g., 3人が集まった),
but it's relatively uncommon. In addition, ページ is a tricky counter that means
both " _n_ pages" and " _n_ -th page", depending on the context. If you use が,
people usually take it as " _n_ -th page".

>   * 5ページ欠けている。 = Five pages are missing.
>   * 5ページ **が** 欠けている。 = Page 5 is missing.
>

Likewise, 何ページか欠けている does not require が because it's about the number of
pages.

**EDIT:** 何ページ often means "which page", whereas 何人/何個 does not mean "which
person/one".

>   * 何ページ欠けているのですか？ = How many pages are missing?
>   * 何ページが欠けているのですか？ = Which page is missing?
>   * 何ページ読んだ？ = How many pages did you read?
>   * 何ページを読んだ? = Which page did you read?
>   * 何人欠けているのですか？ = 何人が欠けているのですか？ = How many people are missing/absent? (The
> former is more common)
>

So you have to pay special attention when you use が/を with ページ. 何ページかが欠けている is
probably grammatical and unambiguous, but it sounds a little unnatural to me,
and it's not something people usually say.

