Many, few and enough

viele, wenige und genug

Distinguish a large number, a small number and a sufficient amount with viele, wenige and genug.

Before this lesson: recognise singular and plural nouns and the present forms habe, haben, ist and sind. Ich habe viele Termine. means I have many appointments. Termine is a countable plural, so use viele here. Heute sind wenige Leute da. means Few people are here today. Leute is plural, so it goes with sind. Wenige means a small number; it does not mean nobody. With an amount of time rather than a number of appointments, compare viel Zeit and wenig Zeit. Das ist genug. means That is enough. Wir haben genug Zeit. means We have enough time. Genug means sufficient for the purpose: enough time could be a few minutes or several hours. It is not automatically a synonym for much or too much. In these patterns genug stays unchanged before the noun: genug Zeit, genug Termine. Compare Wir haben genug Zeit. and Wir haben nicht genug Zeit.; nicht reverses the sufficiency statement. Example: A: Haben wir genug Zeit? B: Ja, wir haben genug Zeit. Do not infer an exact quantity from viele, wenige or genug.

Ask whether you are counting items or judging whether an amount is sufficient. Match Termine and Leute with plural forms; use genug for enough.

A busy calendar may contain many appointments. An office may have few visitors while still having enough staff time. The words express different facts.

Ich habe viel Termine. needs viele with the plural Termine. Do not replace wenige Leute with niemand, or genug Zeit with viel Zeit, because that changes the meaning.

viele = many; wenige = few; genug = enough. Enough depends on the task and does not give a fixed number.

Describe a calendar with many appointments and an office with few people. Then say whether there is enough time; explain why the third statement cannot be inferred from the first two.