Enough and Too

Where Does “Enough” Go?

Enough changes position depending on the word it modifies.

Word type	Position of enough	Example
adjective	after the adjective	The conference room isn’t big enough for 20 people.
adverb	after the adverb	He didn’t explain the process clearly enough.
noun	before the noun	We don’t have enough time to finish before the deadline.

This is the key rule: enough comes after adjectives and adverbs, but before nouns.

• The report isn’t detailed enough. (not enough detailed)
• She speaks fluently enough to handle the client call. (not enough fluently)
• There aren’t enough copies for everyone in the meeting.

You can also use enough on its own, without a noun after it:

• We ordered 50 brochures. That should be enough.

Too: More Than Needed

Too means “more than is necessary” or “more than is good.” It goes before adjectives and adverbs.

• The instructions are too complicated. Nobody follows them.
• She talks too fast during presentations. People can’t keep up.

Do not confuse too with very. Very adds emphasis but does not mean there is a problem. Too always signals a problem or an excess.

	Meaning	Example
very	high degree (neutral)	The project is very difficult, but we’ll manage.
too	excessive (problem)	The project is too difficult. We can’t do it.

Too and Not Enough: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Too and not enough express the same idea from opposite directions.

• The intern works too slowly. = The intern doesn’t work fast enough.
• There are too many tasks on the list. = There isn’t enough time for all the tasks.
• There is too much noise in the open office. = There isn’t enough quiet to concentrate.

Note the difference: use too much with uncountable nouns and too many with countable nouns.

	Use with	Example
too much	uncountable nouns	too much paperwork, too much pressure
too many	countable nouns	too many meetings, too many emails

Enough/Too + for … and to …

You can add for somebody/something or to do something after enough and too.

With for:

• Is the budget big enough for this project?
• The deadline is too tight for our team.

With to + verb:

• The font is too small to read on a phone screen.
• Is the sample large enough to draw reliable conclusions?

You can combine both for and to in one sentence:

• The table is big enough for six people to sit comfortably.

Watch Out: Don’t Repeat the Object

When the subject of the sentence is also the object of the verb after too/enough + to, do not repeat it.

• The report is too long to read. (not too long to read it)
• This suitcase isn’t light enough to carry. (not to carry it)
• The data is too complex to analyse. (not to analyse it)

The subject (the report, this suitcase, the data) is already understood as the object of the verb, so repeating it with a pronoun is incorrect.

Quick Self-Check