how to say "enough" in Hebrew

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מַסְפִּיק, דַּי

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There are two words in Hebrew that mean enough.


First word

by Eran Finkle
taken in Bet Yehoshua, Israel

מַסְפִּיק (mahs-PEEK) comes from the root ס.פ.ק (s.p.k) meaning sufficiency. מספיק is an adjective and adverb deriving from the active-causative הפעיל verb, לְהַסְפִּיק, meaning to suffice or to manage to get something done (featured a little over a year ago).


For example:

יֵשׁ לָנוּ מַסְפִּיק אֹכֶל.

We have enough food.
(yesh LAH-noo mahs-PEEK OH-khel)

הוּא לֹא רָץ מַסְפִּיק מַהֵר.

He doesn't/didn't run fast enough.
(hoo loh rahts mahs-PEEK mah-HEHR)




Second word


The word דַּי (DAH-ee) in the sense of enough is used in Modern Hebrew primarily in the exclamation, !די - enough! !מספיק is used in the same sense.


די also means quite when vocalized דֵּי (DEH-ee), as in the sentence:

הִיא חוֹנָה דֵּי קָרוֹב לַמִּדְרָכָה.

She is parked quite close to the sidewalk.

(hee khoh-NAH DEH-ee kah-ROHV lah-meed-rah-KHAH)

In Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew, די usually appears with a suffix, the best-known example of which is the title of the Passover Seder favorite, דַּיֵּנוּ (dah-YEH-noo).

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