Too much or enough to (слишком / достаточно чтобы)

When assessing whether someone is fit for a demanding task, you often need to express that they are "too" much of something, or "not enough" of it to succeed.

Short-Form Adjectives

To describe a person's current state or qualifications in these structures, Russian frequently uses short-form adjectives as the core of the sentence. Short adjectives drop their long endings and agree with the subject in gender and number:

• Masculine: ends in a consonant (e.g., квалифицирован — qualified, ленив — lazy)
• Feminine: ends in -а (e.g., хитра — cunning)
• Plural: ends in -ы or -и (e.g., выносливы — hardy)

Enough To

To say someone is "[adjective] enough" to do something, use достаточно (enough) or недостаточно (not enough) right before the adjective.

To link this assessment to the action they are expected to perform, use чтобы followed by an infinitive verb.

Too Much To

To express that someone has an excess of a trait that prevents or defines an action, use слишком (too) before the adjective. The second half of the sentence uses the exact same чтобы + infinitive structure.

Adding Doubt

You can easily turn these statements into questions to verify someone's qualifications. To express surprise, skepticism, or doubt, Russians often start the question with particles like разве or неужели (really / is it really possible that).