One of my friends loves to run marathons. He once asked me if I was interested in trying a half marathon. I said, “No, I’m not in good enough shape to run 20 kilometers.”

I told this story to one of my private students, and we practiced how to use enough in natural English.

Enough

In English, enough can mean as many or as much as somebody needs or wants
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/enough_1?q=Enough

English grammar – Much or Many? (+ English Video and lots of example sentences!) Do you know how to use these words? Click the link!

Enough sounds like E-NUFF. In this word, the letters gh make an F sound.

“I’m not in good enough shape to run 20 kilometers.”

We use enough after adjectives and adverbs.

I’m not in good enough shape to run 20 kilometers.

This is the same as

I’m not fit enough to run 20 kilometers.

• I need to be in better shape or more fit to run 20 kilometers. My fitness level needs to be higher. Right now it’s not as high it needs to be.

Shelley added more sugar because the pudding wasn’t sweet enough.

• The pudding is not as sweet as Shelley wants.

Kevin is 30 minutes late! Let’s go without him, we’ve waited long enough.

• We don’t need to spend more time waiting.

Enough often goes in front of nouns.

How many people are coming to the meeting? I want to make sure we have enough chairs.

I hope I have enough time to visit the CN tower when I’m in Toronto.

Enough can be used by itself.

A: “Do you need any more money before your trip?”

B: “No, I have enough.”

• Here enough is a pronoun that means all the money that I need.

In English, we say enough for something

Greg doesn’t have enough time for another task. He’s already too busy.

Sarah isn’t old enough for a part-time job, she’s still in Jr. High school.

My old apartment wasn’t big enough for 2 people. I had to move after I got married.

But we say enough to do something.

Greg doesn’t have enough time to start another task. He’s already too busy.

Sarah isn’t old enough to work part-time, she’s still in Jr. High school.

My cousin and his girlfriend are not old enough to get married.

Listen to the audio from this whole post at SoundCloud!

SoundCloud

• Although Though Even Though (English grammar)
• Learn English FREE! (E-book with audio, newsletter + lots more!)
• Verb and noun pairs with examples (audio+PDF)
• Another word for BECOME (ESL-sound like a native!)
• English suffix ~ish (Increase vocabulary + video!)