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As the previous poster said, amphoteric substances are those that can act like an acid or base. What determines that is the identity of the substance they are reacting with. Water is a common amphoteric substance but there are many oxides that are also amphoteric particularly those that fall on the periodic table in or near the metalloid region. As with most periodic trends, there is not a specific point at which you can say this is amphoteric and this is not, but we can do comparisons as we move across. From the left to the right, we see basic oxides transition to amphoteric oxides transition to acidic oxides that form from the elements.
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