сувише / превише / довољно

Too Much and Enough

Level 3Sounds Like suviše; previše; dovol̂no

Use превише or сувише for "too much / too many / too" (excessive amount), and довољно for "enough / sufficiently". Unlike in English, these adverbs always stand before the adjective, adverb, or noun they modify.

How It Works

The adverbs превише, сувише, and довољно are invariable words that qualify degree and quantity across three major sentence roles:

1. Modifying Adjectives and Adverbs:
They describe the intensity of a quality. Crucially, they always precede the word they describe (unlike English "warm enough"):
• Ова соба је превише хладна. (This room is too cold.)
• Он трчи довољно брзо. (He runs fast enough.)

2. Modifying Verbs:
Placed adverbially, they indicate the duration or intensity of an action:
• Превише радиш, мораш да се одмориш. (You work too much; you must rest.)
• Да ли си довољно спавао? (Did you sleep enough?)

3. Quantifying Nouns (Partitive Genitive):
When denoting amounts of items or substances, they act as quantifiers and govern a genitive complement. In Serbian grammatical terminology, this is known as partitive genitive (деони / партитивни генитив) or genitive with adverbs of quantity (генитив уз прилоге за количину), tagged broadly under partitive genitive:
• With uncountable mass nouns: genitive singular, usually ending in -а or -е (genitive singular in -а and -е, e.g., довољно времена – enough time; превише шећера – too much sugar), but feminine consonant nouns take -и (feminine consonant nouns, e.g., довољно соли – enough salt; превише помоћи – too much help).
• With countable plural nouns: genitive plural (e.g., сувише питања – too many questions; превише грешака – too many mistakes).

4. Subject-Verb Agreement:
When a phrase like превише људи acts as the subject of a past-tense sentence, the verb takes the default neuter singular (3rd person singular) via agreement with quantity subjects:
• Дошло је превише људи (NOT *Дошли су превише људи).

5. Nuances and Related Forms:
• превише vs. сувише: They are practical synonyms, but превише is more frequent in daily speech, whereas сувише (and emphatic исувише) sounds slightly more literary or formal.
• Synthetic prefix пре-: Instead of using the separate adverb превише, Serbian very commonly attaches the prefix пре- directly to an adjective to express excess (e.g., прескупо = too expensive; прехладно = too cold).
• The negative counterpart недовољно: To say "not enough" or "insufficiently", Serbian standardly uses the compound adverb недовољно (e.g., недовољно времена – not enough time; недовољно јасно – not clear enough).
• превише vs. много: Do not use превише simply to mean "a great deal / very much." Много is neutral or positive, while превише emphasizes that a limit has been uncomfortably crossed.
• довољно vs. доста: Довољно specifically designates sufficiency relative to a required baseline. In front of adjectives, доста often shifts meaning to "quite / rather" (e.g., доста добро = fairly/quite good, whereas довољно добро = good enough).

Examples (5)

  1. Ова јакна је превише скупа за мој буџет.

    This jacket is too expensive for my budget.

    Word by Word: This jacket is too expensive for my budget.

    Превише modifies the adjective скупа (expensive), appearing directly before it.

  2. Имамо довољно топле воде за све.

    We have enough warm water for everyone.

    Word by Word: We-have enough warm water for all.

    Довољно acts as a quantifier governing the genitive singular phrase топле воде.

  3. На тесту је било сувише тешких питања.

    There were too many difficult questions on the test.

    Word by Word: On test was too-many difficult questions.

    Сувише governs the genitive plural тешких питања, and the verb takes default neuter singular agreement (било је).

  4. Да ли говорим довољно гласно?

    Am I speaking loudly enough?

    Word by Word: Whether I-speak enough loudly?

    Unlike in English, довољно precedes the adverb гласно instead of following it.

  5. Исувише бринеш о туђим мишљењима.

    You worry far too much about other people's opinions.

    Word by Word: Far-too-much you-worry about others' opinions.

    The intensified variant исувише modifies the verb бринеш (you worry).

Common Mistakes

  • Placing довољно after adjectives by copying English word order.

    Овај стан је велики довољно за нас.
    Овај стан је довољно велик за нас.

    In English, "enough" follows adjectives ("big enough"). In Serbian, довољно must precede the adjective it modifies.

  • Using nominative or accusative case instead of genitive after quantifying adverbs.

    Немам довољно време за одмор.
    Немам довољно времена за одмор.

    Quantifying adverbs require the partitive genitive. The noun време must appear in its genitive singular form времена.

  • Agreeing the past-tense verb in plural with a quantified subject noun phrase.

    На концерт су дошли превише људи.
    На концерт је дошло превише људи.

    Quantifier subjects (превише + genitive noun) trigger default 3rd person neuter singular agreement (је дошло), not plural agreement.

How It Connects

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

сувише / превише / довољноLevel 3Too Much and Enough

Learn This First

To use 'сувише', 'превише', and 'довољно', learners need to understand degree modifiers with adjectives and adverbs, as well as the rule that quantity expressions take a noun complement in the genitive case.

Words in This Pattern

сувишепревишедовољно