Look at these examples to see how enough is used.
She's not old enough to walk yet.
We are not acting fast enough to stop climate change.
I don't read enough.
Is there enough coffee for everyone?
We've had enough of their lies.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
enough means 'as much as necessary'. It can be used with an adjective, an adverb, a verb or a noun. It can also act as a pronoun.
With adjectives and adverbs
enough comes after adjectives and adverbs.
I'm not tall enough to reach the top shelf.
Your marks are good enough to study engineering at university.
I couldn't write quickly enough and I ran out of time.
I've helped at conferences often enough to know what can go wrong.
With verbs
enough comes after verbs.
I make sure I drink enough during the day.
I don't read enough but I'm going to start downloading books to my phone.
With nouns
enough comes before nouns.
There isn't enough bread to make sandwiches.
Have you got enough money?
As a pronoun
enough can also be used without a noun.
I'll get some more chairs. There aren't enough.
A: Do you want more coffee? B: No, I've had enough, thanks.
We know what the noun is because of the context.
With an adjective and a noun
When enough is used with an adjective and a noun, two positions are possible but the meaning changes.
We haven't got big enough envelopes.
We haven't got enough big envelopes.
When enough is after the adjective (big enough envelopes), it describes the adjective – the envelopes are too small. When enough is before the adjective (enough big envelopes), it describes the noun phrase – we have some big envelopes, but we need more.
enough of
We normally only use enough of when it is followed by a determiner or a pronoun (a/an/the, this/that, my/your/his, you/them, etc.).
There isn't enough of that bread to make sandwiches for everyone.
I've seen enough of his work to be able to recommend him.
There's enough of us to make a difference.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello Staff
Can 'enough' always be considered a quantifier?
Thanks in advance
Hello Larrie,
In terms of its use in sentences, 'enough' can be a determiner, a pronoun or an adverb:
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/enough
'Quantifier' is not a part of speech but rather a description of the role of an item in terms of meaning. This will depend upon the particular sentence.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi GiulianaAndy,
No, actually only the first sentence using 'enough' is correct. 'Too' means something like 'excessively'. It doesn't have the meaning of 'sufficiently' that 'enough' has.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi GiulianaAndy,
No, we don't use too in that way. As Jonathan said, too means excessively, so it always suggests that something is unsatisfactory or problematic.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi GiulianaAndy,
It should be He prevented me from coming to the party :)
If you're unsure which preposition to use, sometimes the example sentences in the dictionary are useful (e.g. see this page on prevent in the Cambridge Dictionary). I hope it helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team