“时间不够”说成“time isn't enough”？到底错在哪里?!

时间总是不够用。

那么“时间不够”的英文，

你知道怎么表达吗?

时间不够

The time isn't enough. ✖

There isn't enough time. ✔

We don't have enough time. ✔

为什么说“Time isn't enough”是错的?

有两个原因，一是客观原因，时间不是实物，不会不够，只是我们觉得它不够被我们用而已;二是语法，只有句子中主语是代名词的时候，enough才能做补语。比如 it/there/that/this，enough可以直接出现在后面，比如“That's enough.够了”。

例：

两天时间恐怕不够我们游览所有名胜古迹。

I am afraid two day's time is not enough for us to see all the place of interest.

类似表达

have no more time to...

no more time left

in lack of time

be running short of time

enough到底怎么用?

enough means 'as much as necessary'. It can be used with an adjective, an adverb, a verb or a noun. It can also act as a pronoun.

enough的意思是“足够的”。它可以与形容词、副词、动词或名词连用。它也可以作为代词。

With adjectives and adverbs

与形容词和副词连用时

enough comes after adjectives and adverbs.

enough放在形容词或副词后

I'm not tall enough to reach the top shelf.

我不够高，够不到架子的顶层。

Your marks are good enough to study engineering at university.

你的成绩很好，足以在大学里学习工程学。

I couldn't write quickly enough and I ran out of time.

我写得不够快，我没有时间了。

With verbs

与动词连用时

enough comes after verbs.

enough在动词后

I make sure I drink enough during the day.

我保证白天喝足够的水。

I don't read enough but I'm going to start downloading books to my phone.

我读的书还不够多，但我打算开始把书下载到手机上。

With nouns

与名词连用

enough comes before nouns.

enough在名词前

There isn't enough bread to make sandwiches.

没有足够的面包做三明治。

Have you got enough money?

你带够钱了吗?

As a pronoun

作为代词

enough can also be used without a noun.

即使没有名词也可以出现

I'll get some more chairs. There aren't enough.

我去再拿点椅子。这的不够。

A: Do you want more coffee? B: No, I've had enough, thanks.

你想要的再来点咖啡吗?不，我有的就够了，谢谢。

We know what the noun is because of the context.

我们知道那个名词是什么，因为上下文。

With an adjective and a noun

与形容词和名词连用时

When enough is used with an adjective and a noun, two positions are possible but the meaning changes.

当enough与名词和形容词一起使用时，有两个可能的位置，但是这两个位置的意思不同

We haven't got big enough envelopes.

我们的信封不够大。

We haven't got enough big envelopes.

我们的大信封还不够多。

When enough is after the adjective (big enough envelopes), it describes the adjective – the envelopes are too small. When enough is before the adjective (enough big envelopes), it describes the noun phrase – we have some big envelopes, but we need more.

当enough在形容词后(big enough envelopes)，它描述的是形容词——信封太小。当形容词(enough big envelopes))前面有enough时，它描述的是名词短语——我们有一些大信封，但是我们需要更多。

enough of

We normally only use enough of when it is followed by a determiner or a pronoun (a/an/the, this/that, my/your/his, you/them, etc.).

我们通常只在enough of后面跟限定词或代词时才用enough of。

There isn't enough of that bread to make sandwiches for everyone.

没有足够的面包给每个人做三明治

I've seen enough of his work to be able to recommend him.

他的工作我已看得足够多了，我可以推荐他。

There's enough of us to make a difference.

我们有足够多的人来改变世界。

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