Study materials
There is a cup of coffee in front of you. You want to talk about its temperature, and a single word decides whether this is a complaint or a compliment.
This coffee is too hot.
This coffee is hot enough.
Notice where the words sit. Too comes before the adjective, enough comes after it. In Ukrainian both of them go in front, and that is where most of the mistakes are born.
Too before the word, enough after it
With adjectives and adverbs the order is fixed, and the order is the part worth memorising.
The bag is too heavy.
The bag is light enough.
He speaks too quickly.
He speaks clearly enough.
The negative not enough says the quality is missing.
The room isn't warm enough.
Too is not simply very
Too always means that the quality is in the way, that something cannot happen because of it. It is not a stronger version of very.
The film was very long.
The film was too long.
So "Thank you, it was very good" is a compliment, while too good in the same place sounds like a reproach.
With nouns the order changes
As soon as a noun follows, the picture changes. Enough moves to the front, and too cannot stand before a noun on its own: it needs much or many.
| With an adjective or adverb | With a noun | |
|---|---|---|
| Excess | too hot, too quickly | too much noise, too many emails |
| Sufficiency | hot enough, quickly enough | enough time, enough chairs |
The choice between much and many is the one you already know from the previous topic: can it be counted in units.
There is too much traffic today.
We received too many messages.
We don't have enough chairs.
The consequence with to
Both structures like a continuation. Add an infinitive and the sentence explains by itself what does or does not follow.
It's too late to call her.
She's old enough to drive.
If somebody other than the subject performs the action, that person is added with for.
The box is too heavy for me to lift.
The text was simple enough for her to read.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is putting enough before the adjective.
The water is enough warm. → The water is warm enough.
The second is putting too straight in front of a noun.
There is too noise. → There is too much noise.
The third is reaching for too where plain very was meant.
Thank you, the soup was too good. → Thank you, the soup was very good.
All three are caught by two questions. What comes next, an adjective or a noun? That settles the word order. Is the quality in the way, or merely strong? That settles too or very.
Try it right now
Look around and find one thing you have too much of and one thing you have just enough of.
Say both in English and give each of them a continuation with to. That continuation is what turns a rule into a living phrase.