How to say “not enough” in Chinese
not enough
“Not enough” in Chinese is 不够, bú gòu: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
不够 is read bú gòu: 2 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
Before a fourth tone it is read bú: 不是 bú shì.
On the right, 多 “many”: many means enough. On the left, 句.
Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “不够”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 不够. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 时间不够了，我们得快一点儿。shíjiānbúgòule,wǒmenděikuàiyìdiǎnrWe're running out of time, we need to hurry.
- 我带的钱不够wǒdàideqiánbúgòuI didn't bring enough money.
- 我觉得自己还不够努力wǒjuédezìjǐháibúgòunǔlìI think I'm still not trying hard enough.
- 手机的存储空间不够了shǒujīdecúnchǔkōngjiānbúgòuleMy phone doesn't have enough storage left.
- 我的流量不够用了wǒdeliúliàngbúgòuyòngleMy data is running out.
More words from the lesson “What's missing”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “not enough” in Chinese?
“Not enough” in Chinese is 不够, pinyin búgòu.
What does 不够 mean?
不够 (búgòu) means “not enough”.
How do you write 不够?
不够 is 2 characters: 不 (bù) — not, no; 够 (gòu) — be enough, sufficient. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 不够?
不够 is read búgòu. Tones: bú — second tone, gòu — fourth tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“not enough” in the lesson “What's missing”
This word is from the topic “Sports and wrap-up” of HSK 4. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.
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