Skip to content
Chinese Copilot

不够bú gòunot enough; insufficient; inadequate

HSK 4word

By Chinese Copilot · Last updated

不够 (bú gòu) means "not enough," "insufficient," or "inadequate." It says that an amount of money, time, food, or people falls short, as in 钱不够 (not enough money), and before an adjective it says a quality is not high enough, as in 不够大 (not big enough).

What does 不够 mean?

  1. 1.

    not enough; insufficient; inadequateadjective

What do the characters in 不够 mean?

  • 不(bound form) not; un-
  • 够enough (sufficient)

How do you use 不够?

不够 can follow a noun (时间不够) or come before an adjective (不够好).

Patterns

  • 不够 + adjective

    这杯水不够热。

    Zhè bēi shuǐ bú gòu rè.

    This glass of water isn't hot enough.

What are some examples of 不够 in a sentence?

  1. HSK 4

    我的钱不够。

    Wǒ de qián bú gòu.

    I don't have enough money.

  2. HSK 4

    这个房间不够大。

    Zhège fángjiān bú gòu dà.

    This room isn't big enough.

  3. HSK 4

    一个小时不够，我们要两个小时。

    Yí ge xiǎoshí bú gòu, wǒmen yào liǎng ge xiǎoshí.

    One hour isn't enough; we need two hours.

How is 不够 used in a conversation?

  1. Speaker A:

    我们买的菜够吃吗？

    Wǒmen mǎi de cài gòu chī ma?

    Is the food we're buying enough to eat?

  2. Speaker B:

    不够，今天来八位客人。

    Bú gòu, jīntiān lái bā wèi kèrén.

    Not enough. Eight guests are coming today.

  3. Speaker A:

    那我再去买一些。

    Nà wǒ zài qù mǎi yìxiē.

    Then I'll go buy some more.

  4. Speaker B:

    好，多买点儿肉。

    Hǎo, duō mǎi diǎnr ròu.

    OK, buy more meat.

What should you learn next?

Related words

Browse every entry in the Chinese word dictionary.

English glosses on this page are adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG (snapshot 2026-10-23), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Glosses were edited for learners.