Bastante as enough?

by Alba Castro

Last post was on how to use bastante and the pattern that it follows with mucho, demasiado and poco.

Now, I didn't include enough in that post, and I'm going to explain why:

When you look bastante up, it comes up as "enough" or even "too much". Now, in some situations, you can either interpret this word as "enough", "too much" or just "quite a lot", like I offered.

Hay bastante dinero para comprar el coche - There's quite a lot of money to buy the car / there's enough money to buy the car.

Has hecho bastante por mí - you've done quite a lot for me/ enough for me/too much for me.

Here's the thing, as a native I wouldn't understand bastante as "enough" or "too much" automatically, I would only do that if I get that idea from the tone (you've done enough already! with angry tone) or if the context tells me that. That's why I think translating it as "quite a lot" is the best way to go, and let context and tone give you the vibe of the intention.

To use, that is, to create your own sentences, I would definitely use suficiente for "enough" instead, and demasiado for "too much".

This is the blogpost on suficiente/suficientemente if you want to learn more about it, and you already have the post on demasiado at the top.

This way, you have one word for each translation, which in my opinion is always better, clearer and safer.

Remember that bastante is more of a fact (quantity, quite a lot) than demasiado and suficiente which are a bit more subjective, therefore more of an opinion and charged usually with more of a tone (of advice, of anger, of surprise...).

Keep that in mind when doing the following practice:

Practice

Fill in the gaps with: bastante/s, suficiente/s or demasiado/a/os/as

  • Hay ________ tráfico en esta calle, pero no me molesta - There is ______ traffic in this street, but it doesn't bother me.

  • ¡Odio esa ciudad, hay __________ ruido! -I hate that city, there's ______ noise!

  • Tenemos ________ platos y vasos ya, no compres más - We have ______ plates and glasses already, don't buy more.

  • Lees _______, ¿verdad? - You read _______, right?

  • ¡Has gastado _______ dinero! ¿Estás loco? - You've spent _____ money! Are you crazy?

  • Es importante beber ________ agua - It's important to drink ______ water.

  • No te preocupes __________, lo arreglaremos - Don't worry __________, we'll fix it.

  • Vivimos ___________ cerca de nuestra familia y nos gusta - We live ________ close to our family and we like it.

  • Pienso que no tienes ___________ horas para descansar - I think you don' t have _________ hours to rest.

  • Sin embargo, creo que pasas _____________ horas en el gimnasio, no es necesario - However, I think you spend ________ in the gym, it's not necessary.

bastante/demasiado/suficientes/bastante/demasiado/suficiente/demasiado/bastante/suficientes/demasiadas

Hope that helped you! ¡Hasta la próxima! :)