"Bastante" y "Suficiente": they are different words ;)

Question

I was reading the thread of "the word of the day" and I come across with this sentence by Porcupine7 jeje

De vez en cuando los niños tienen sueño y entonces un cuento corto será bastante para adormecerlos.

Occasionally the children feel sleepy and then a short story will be enough to lull them.

My correction is: Un cuento corto será "suficiente" para adormecerlos.

But i wondered why she mixed up "suficiente(enough)" with bastante "(quite,pretty very, etc)"

here the answer?

Some instances below: Extracted from here

1. enough (suficiente)

No tengo dinero bastante - I haven't got enough money< Actually it's "No tengo suficiente dinero."

Hay bastante sitio para todos - there is enough room for everyone; <"Hay suficiente sitio para todos"

¿No tienes ya bastantes? haven't you got enough?; <¿No tienes suficiente?

No había bastante público - there wasn't a big enough audience <"No había suficiente publico"

Plus:

Se marchó hace bastante rato - he left quite some time ago;> se marchó hace bastante tiempo atrás

and there are a bunch, i just took some but can this confused? Who is able to correct? or who has the ability to do it? Thanks and sorry if this question is misplaced

Gracias por explicarnos la diferencia entre las dos palabras. :) - bosquederoble, Aug 3, 2014

no es una explicacion Bosque, los ejemplos de spanishdict están mal y pueden confundir a un estudiante :) mi pregunta es ¿Quien puede corregirlos? - 003e54f5, Aug 4, 2014

Debido a que son desde un diccionario publicado, sospecho que nadie puede cambiarlos. - bosquederoble, Aug 4, 2014

that was my question Bosque and I suspected it, a pity because can be confusing to students but thank you Bosque :) - 003e54f5, Aug 4, 2014

Gracias Pablo, ya basta! - annierats, Aug 4, 2014

Answer 1

-Tengo 1,000 billetes de 2 dólares. - Oye amigo,¿ no tienes ya bastantes (enough 2 dollar bills)? No, no tengo suficientes todavia. Necesito mas

See question below :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 5, 2014

Answer 2

It does seem that native speakers prefer to use suficiente to refer to having 'enough' or there being 'enough' of something and I agree that for some reason bastante sometimes sounds wrong but I'm not sure if it's actually grammatically incorrect. As far as I understand 'bastante' and 'suficiente' are often interchangeable with one notable difference.

Bastante can be used as an adjective or as an adverb whereas suficiente is only an adjective.

That means that bastante can be used with verbs, nouns, other adjectives and other adverbs etc but to agree with the grammar rules suficiente shouldn't be used to modify verbs, other adjectives or adverbs. This doesn't mean that you won't hear it jeje. (The equivalent adverb should be suficientemente or one can use 'lo suficiente').

As you can see from the following information from RAE when bastante is used as an adjective it means 'enough' but when it is used as an adverb it can mean 'enough' or 'quite', 'fairly' etc.

suficiente.

(Del lat. suffic?ens, -entis).

1. adj. Bastante para lo que se necesita.

2. adj. Apto o idóneo.

3. adj. Pedante, engreído que habla con afectación.

bastante.

(Del ant. part. act. de bastar1).

1. adj. Que basta.

2. adv. c. Ni mucho ni poco, ni más ni menos de lo regular, ordinario o preciso; sin sobra ni falta.

3. adv. c. No poco. Es bastante rico Bastante bella

I Know Kiwi but "No tengo dinero bastante" is wrong and sounds awful! - 003e54f5, Aug 3, 2014

I agree jeje but perhaps it's just a regional thing rather than a grammatical thing http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=fFmBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=bastante+with+nouns+or+suficiente&source=bl&ots=STDhobVBRc&sig=QcyLO9djx9QJLUndr9r6ObhNZk4&hl=en&sa=X&e - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 3, 2014

Thank you Kiwi then "No tengo bastante dinero" its okay but who can correct it? :) - 003e54f5, Aug 4, 2014

Deberia de ser: No tengo suficiente dinero. - juanmelgar, Aug 4, 2014

Es lo que yo digo Juanme pero los ejemplos de spanishdict están mal y nadie puede corregirlos :) - 003e54f5, Aug 4, 2014

Answer 3

Edit - my mistake (gracias Juan) bastante is invariable as an adverb (when modifying a verb, another adverb or an adjective) but it is pluralised when it's an adjective modifying a noun.

¿no tienes ya bastantes? haven't you got enough?;

This one seems wrong, bastante is invariable and is not pluralized.

I don't know a lot of Spanish grammar, but if the bastantes is referring to a noun, I think it is right to me. - juanmelgar, Aug 4, 2014

You're quite right Juan ,my mistake, I was thinking about bastante as an adverb being invariable. Las mesas no son bastante grande. Thanks for your help :) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 5, 2014

I am glad I can help and not offend anyone with my comments/corrections. - juanmelgar, Aug 6, 2014

:) - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 6, 2014

Answer 4

I remember our teacher regularly correcting us! It is something I still get wrong!

Did the teacher give an explanation Mardle? - Kiwi-Girl, Aug 3, 2014

Mardle the point is that the examples are wrong :) go to the link and look them - 003e54f5, Aug 3, 2014

Answer 5

Deberia de ser: No tengo suficiente dinero. - juanmelgar

I agree that it sounds better Juan but is there a reason why bastante would be wrong? After all bastante can be a adjective too.

yo ni si quiera uso la palabra 'suficiente' pero digo 'no tengo mucha plata' y ahora que lo pienso es como decir 'no tengo bastante plata' =) - 003e54f5, Aug 5, 2014