Cela suffit pour aujourd'hui.

Yes, you absolutely can say “Ça suffit pour aujourd’hui.”

• Cela is a bit more formal and is more common in writing or careful speech.
• Ça is what you’ll hear 99% of the time in everyday spoken French.

In practice:

• Spoken French: “Ça suffit pour aujourd’hui.”
• Written / neutral style: “Cela suffit pour aujourd’hui.”

The meaning is the same: “That’s enough for today.”

“Cela” (or “ça” in spoken French) is a demonstrative pronoun. It refers to:

• what has just been done, said, or experienced, e.g.
  • after doing exercises: “Ça suffit pour aujourd’hui.” → These exercises are enough for today.
  • after a long discussion: “Ça suffit pour aujourd’hui.” → This discussion is enough for today.

It’s a bit like English “this/that” used vaguely:

• Not naming something specific, but pointing to the overall activity or situation that just happened.

“Suffit” is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb “suffire” (to be enough / to suffice).

Conjugation in the present (singular forms):

• je suffis – I am enough / I suffice
• tu suffis – you are enough
• il/elle/on suffit – he/she/it is enough

In “Cela suffit pour aujourd’hui”:

• Subject: cela
• Verb: suffit (3rd person singular → matches cela)

Literally: “That suffices for today.”

The verb agrees with its subject, which is “cela”.

• “Cela” is singular → so you must use “suffit”.
• If the subject were plural, the verb would be plural:
  • “Ces exercices suffisent pour aujourd’hui.”
    These exercises are enough for today.

So:

• Cela suffit → That is enough.
• Ces choses suffisent → Those things are enough.

You wrap the verb “suffit” with ne … pas:

• “Cela ne suffit pas pour aujourd’hui.”
  → That’s not enough for today.

Spoken French often drops “ne”, especially with ça:

• “Ça suffit pas pour aujourd’hui.” (very common in speech)

Structure:

• subject: cela / ça
• ne (often dropped in speech)
• verb: suffit
• pas
• rest of the sentence: pour aujourd’hui

“Pour aujourd’hui” literally means “for today (as far as today is concerned)”.

• It sets a limit in terms of what you’re doing today, not a chronological limit in time.
• It’s like English: “That’s enough for today.”

Other expressions have different meanings:

• “jusqu’à aujourd’hui” → until today (up to this date, looking back in time)
• “jusqu’à ce soir” → until this evening (end point in time)

So “Cela suffit pour aujourd’hui” really means:

• We’ll stop here as far as today is concerned.

“Aujourd’hui” is an adverb of time, not a noun, so it doesn’t take an article.

• You say:
  • aujourd’hui – today
  • demain – tomorrow
  • hier – yesterday

You don’t say:

• ✗ le aujourd’hui
• ✗ le demain

So “pour aujourd’hui” is simply “for today”, with an adverb (aujourd’hui) after the preposition pour.

It can be neutral or a bit abrupt, depending on tone and context.

• Neutral / polite if said calmly:
  • at the end of a lesson or meeting
  • when finishing a work session
• It can sound sharp or scolding if said with a hard tone, especially to children:
  • like English “That’s enough (now)!”

To soften it, people often add something:

• “Bon, ça suffit pour aujourd’hui, on reprendra demain.”
• “Ça suffit pour aujourd’hui, merci.”

Yes. Both are correct:

• “Cela suffit pour aujourd’hui.” (most common, neutral order)
• “Pour aujourd’hui, cela suffit.” (slightly more emphatic on “as for today”)

The second sounds a bit more stylistic or deliberate, but it’s perfectly natural, especially in writing or formal speech.

Both can mean “That’s enough”, but they feel different:

• “Cela suffit.”

  • Very idiomatic.
  • Common in everyday speech.
  • Often used to end or stop something:
    • Okay, we stop here. That’s enough.

• “C’est suffisant.”

  • More descriptive and a bit more formal.
  • Sounds like you’re evaluating something rather than cutting it off.
  • Closer to: “It is sufficient / adequate.”

In most situations where you’d say “That’s enough” in English to stop an activity, “Ça suffit.” is the natural choice.

Yes, depending on what you want to express:

• Present (commonest):
  “Ça suffit pour aujourd’hui.”
  → That’s enough for today. (right now)

• Future:
  “Ça suffira pour aujourd’hui.”
  → That will be enough for today. (looking ahead, reassuring someone)

• Past (passé composé):
  “Ça a suffi pour aujourd’hui.”
  → That was enough for today. (looking back on what happened)

All three are correct; you just choose based on whether you’re talking about now, later, or earlier.