夠

Enough

Level 2Sounds Like gau3

夠 (gau3) means 'enough' or 'sufficient'. Unlike English, in Cantonese 夠 comes BEFORE adjectives (夠熱 = hot enough / sufficiently hot) and nouns (夠錢 = enough money), and can form verb phrases like 夠錢買 (have enough money to buy). It can also stand alone as a predicate (應該夠 = should be enough). When placed AFTER a verb, it means doing something to full satisfaction (食夠 = eaten enough; note that physical fullness uses 食飽). Common idiomatic expressions include 夠鐘 (time's up) and 夠膽 (dare to).

How It Works

The word 夠 (gau3) is the primary everyday Cantonese word for 'enough' or 'sufficient'. Understanding how to place it correctly depends on what part of speech it is interacting with:

1. Standalone Predicate
夠 can be used on its own as a predicate meaning 'to be enough':
• 一百蚊應該夠 (jat1 baak3 man1 jing1 goi1 gau3) = One hundred dollars should be enough.

2. Before Nouns (夠 + Noun) & Verb Phrases (夠 + Noun + Verb)
To say you have enough of something, place 夠 directly before the noun. You do NOT need 嘅. You can also add a verb phrase after the noun:
• 夠錢 (gau3 cin2) = enough money
• 唔夠時間 (m4 gau3 si1 gaan3) = not enough time
• 夠錢買 (gau3 cin2 maai5) = have enough money to buy

3. Before Adjectives (夠 + Adjective)
In English, 'enough' goes after adjectives ('big enough'). In Cantonese, 夠 goes before the adjective. In positive declarative statements, it often functions as 'sufficiently' or 'quite [adjective]':
• 夠熱 (gau3 jit6) = hot enough / sufficiently hot
• 呢間房夠大 (nei1 gaan1 fong2 gau3 daai6) = This room is sufficiently big / quite spacious
• 唔夠大 (m4 gau3 daai6) = not big enough

4. After Verbs (Verb + 夠)
When placed directly after an action verb, 夠 indicates that the action was performed to full satisfaction.
• 食夠 (sik6 gau3) = eaten enough / had enough of eating
• 玩夠 (waan2 gau3) = played enough
Note: Physical stomach fullness is expressed with 食飽 (sik6 baau2), not 食夠.

5. Idiomatic Fixed Expressions
夠 appears in several common everyday expressions:
• 夠鐘 (gau3 zung1) = time's up
• 夠膽 (gau3 daam2) = dare to / have the nerve to

Questions with 夠唔夠
To ask 'is it enough?' or 'is there enough?', use the form 夠唔夠 (gau3 m4 gau3):
• 夠唔夠錢？ (gau3 m4 gau3 cin2?) = Do you have enough money?
• 夠唔夠熱？ (gau3 m4 gau3 jit6?) = Is it hot enough?

Register Note:
In formal written Chinese, you will see 足夠 (zuk1 gau3) or 不夠 (bat1 gau3). In daily spoken Cantonese, you will usually use 夠 and 唔夠.

Examples (4)

  1. 呢度唔夠時間，我哋要快啲。

    There isn't enough time here; we need to hurry.

    Word by Word: This place not enough time, we need fast a bit.

    唔夠 (m4 gau3) is placed directly before the noun 時間 (si4 gaan3, time).

  2. 碗湯夠唔夠熱呀？

    Is the soup hot enough?

    Word by Word: Bowl soup enough not enough hot [particle]?

    Questions use 夠唔夠 (gau3 m4 gau3) before the adjective 熱 (jit6, hot).

  3. 佢玩夠食夠就返屋企瞓。

    After he played enough and ate enough, he went home to sleep.

    Word by Word: He play enough eat enough then return home sleep.

    When 夠 follows verbs like 玩 (waan2) and 食 (sik6), it means doing the action to full satisfaction.

  4. 呢部電腦夠新，唔使買過部。

    This computer is new enough; there's no need to buy another one.

    Word by Word: This classifier computer enough new, no need buy another classifier.

    夠 comes before the adjective 新 (san1, new) to state it meets the benchmark.

Common Mistakes

  • Placing 夠 after an adjective following English word order ('big enough').

    呢個袋大夠。
    呢個袋夠大。

    Unlike English where 'enough' follows adjectives ('big enough'), Cantonese places 夠 before the adjective (夠大).

  • Forming questions by applying A-not-A to the adjective instead of 夠.

    呢度夠大唔大？
    呢度夠唔夠大？

    To ask an A-not-A question with 夠, apply the pattern directly to 夠 itself (夠唔夠).

  • Using 冇 (mou5) and 嘅 (ge3) to say 'not enough'.

    我冇夠嘅錢。
    我唔夠錢。

    To say 'not enough money', negate 夠 directly with 唔: 唔夠錢. Putting 冇 and 嘅 around it, as in 冇夠嘅錢, is not how it is said.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

夠Level 2Enough

Learn This First

To use 夠 (enough), you need to understand how adjectives work in Cantonese, how to negate statements using 唔, and the basic word order for modifying nouns and adjectives.

Words in This Pattern

够够