Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Compramos verdura suficiente para toda la semana. - We buy enough vegetables for the whole week.

Compramos verdura suficiente para toda la semana.

We buy enough vegetables for the whole week.

Breakdown of Compramos verdura suficiente para toda la semana.

Questions & Answers about Compramos verdura suficiente para toda la semana.

Why does compramos appear here? Is it present or past tense?

Compramos is the first‐person plural form of comprar, and context tells us it’s in the simple past (pretérito). Although compramos looks identical in the present (“we buy”) and the preterite (“we bought”), the meaning “for the whole week” implies you completed the purchase, so it’s past.

Why is verdura singular? Could we say verduras instead?

In Spanish, mass nouns like “vegetables” often appear in the singular when you’re talking about them in general. Verdura here means “vegetable matter.” You can say verduras to stress individual types (“we bought vegetables”), but verdura feels more like “produce” as a category.

Why is suficiente placed after verdura? Can it go before?

Quantity adjectives such as suficiente typically follow the noun in neutral Spanish: verdura suficiente. You could front it—suficiente verdura—for stylistic reasons, but it’s less common and can sound more formal or poetic.

Can we replace suficiente with bastante? What’s the difference?

Yes. Bastante also means “enough,” but it often carries a nuance of “quite a lot.” Compramos bastante verdura is perfectly natural and perhaps a bit more colloquial, whereas suficiente is neutral and literally “sufficient.”