genug

German

Alternative forms
  • genung, gnung (archaic, dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle High German genuoc, from Old High German ginuog, from Proto-West Germanic *ganōg, from Proto-Germanic *ganōgaz. Cognate with Dutch genoeg, Low German noog, English enough, West Frisian genôch, Danish nok, Swedish nog. The Proto-Germanic word is a compound of the prefix *ga- + unreflexed *nōgaz. The latter is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂nóḱe (“to reach, achieve, carry out”), a form of *h₂neḱ-.[1]

Further Indo-European cognates: Latin nancīscor (“to get, to obtain”), Slovene nesti (“to carry”), Albanian kënaq (“to satisfy”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɡəˈnuːk/ (standard)
  • IPA(key): /ɡəˈnʊx/ (northern and central Germany; now chiefly colloquial)
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːk

Determiner

genug

  1. (invariable) enough, sufficient, an adequate number or amount of
    Wir haben nicht genug Geld.
    We don't have enough money.

Usage notes
  • Genug can never follow an article or another determiner. Moreover, it is commonly used after the referent for emphasis: Die haben Geld genug! (“They have money enough!”)

Pronoun

genug

  1. (invariable) enough, an adequate number or amount
    Das ist genug.
    That's enough.

Usage notes
  • Genug can be followed and preceded by a genitive as in genug der Worte, rarer der Worte genug.

Adverb

genug

  1. enough, sufficiently, in an adequate way
    Die Kinder haben genug gespielt.
    The children have played enough.
    Das Zimmer ist groß genug.
    The room is big enough.

Adjective

genug (strong nominative masculine singular genuger, not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) enough, sufficient, in an adequate way

Usage notes
  • In colloquial German, genug can be declined in expressions like: ein groß genuges Zimmer (“a big enough room”). When used as an adjective, genug must follow another adjective, similar to its use as an adverb. In the standard language proper, ausreichend will be used instead, which precedes the adjective: ein ausreichend großes Zimmer (“a sufficiently big room”).

Declension
Positive forms of genug (uncomparable)
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist genug sie ist genug es ist genug sie sind genug
strong declension
(without article)		 nominative genuger genuge genuges genuge
genitive genugen genuger genugen genuger
dative genugem genuger genugem genugen
accusative genugen genuge genuges genuge
weak declension
(with definite article)		 nominative der genuge die genuge das genuge die genugen
genitive des genugen der genugen des genugen der genugen
dative dem genugen der genugen dem genugen den genugen
accusative den genugen die genuge das genuge die genugen
mixed declension
(with indefinite article)		 nominative ein genuger eine genuge ein genuges (keine) genugen
genitive eines genugen einer genugen eines genugen (keiner) genugen
dative einem genugen einer genugen einem genugen (keinen) genugen
accusative einen genugen eine genuge ein genuges (keine) genugen

Interjection

genug!

  1. enough!
    Genug! Hör auf mit diesem Unsinn! ― Enough! Quit this nonsense!

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms
Derived terms

Further reading

References
  1. Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
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