If »Geld« is neuter, then why not »genuges Geld«?

Question

Usually one would say

Hast du genug Geld?

But I was thinking, as Geld is neuter, then shouldn't one say

Hast du genuges Geld?

Can some one please explain what is wrong with my thinking?

Answer 1

In this sentence the word »genug« (enough) does not describe a property of »Geld« (money). You can test this when you try to use this word as an attribute in a nominal phrase that is used as subject in a sentences. This test works in German and also in English:

Falsch: Das genug(e) Geld ist grün.
Wrong: The enough money is green.

This will not do. This is neither correct German nor correct English.

The word »genug« (enough) is a supplement of the verb, which in your example is a form of »haben« (to have). This kind of usage is called "adverbial". You can use the verb plus genug/enough together with a simple subject (here: a personal pronoun) to build an absolutely correct sentence in German and also in English:

Richtig: Er hat genug.
Correct: He has enough.

In »das genug(e) Geld« we tried an attributive usage, but this lead to an error. In »er hat genug« we have an adverbial usage, and this times the sentence was correct.

Words that can be used adverbial but not attributive are called adverbs. Adverbs are different from adjectives. One of the most important differences is, that in German adjectives have to be declined according to their grammatical environment, while adverbs are indeclinable words. This means, that adverbs never will be declined. They never change the ending.

Since, as shown above, »genug« is not a adjective, but an adverb (exactly like its Englisch counterpart enough), it exists in only one form, which is »genug«. There is no »genuge« or »genuges« in German. It is always »genug«.

Answer 2

Genug is an adverb in your example sentence. Adverbs in German do not take adjective endings.

Here's a similar example with the use of genug as an adverb from dict.cc:

Als ob ich nicht schon genug Probleme hätte. = As if I didn't have enough problems.

The difference between adverbs and adjectives can be nicely (nicely here is an adverb, BTW) illustrated through the following three examples from dict.cc:

schlecht bezahlte Arbeit {f} = badly paid job

schlecht erzogener Hund {m} = badly behaved dog

schlecht zugeschnittener Anzug {m} = badly cut suit

As you can see, schlecht, which is an adverb in the above expressions, does not have any endings. While adjectives that follow do have endings, as determined by the subsequent nouns.

Answer 3

Addendum to the answers here,

the adjective form of the genug is genügend. It can be translated as sufficient in English.

Some examples from internet with this adjective;

Ich war ohne Mittel, denn genügendes Geld bekam ich als Gefangener natürlich nicht in die Hände

Sofort wenn wir genügendes Geld haben fahren wir hin

There was a related question whether genug and genügend can be used interchangeably. It is also useful to read it to understand the differences.

EDIT

After the discussion about the examples, which I used. I am giving the sources of the examples.

The first example is taken from Google Books.

The second example is taken from Berlinische Galerie.

However, with the help of the comments below, I understand that this kind of usage of the genügend is a little bit old-fashioned, even if it is grammatically correct.

Answer 4

Taken from Duden it is not an adverb but in this case a pronoun. (Indefinitpronomen).

Some are some are not inflected. This is not.

The adjective 'genügend' would be treated as any adjective:

Es gab nicht genug Gründe.

vs

Es gibt keine genügenden Gründe.

Note that it can also be used as a particle (Partikel):

Der Schrank ist groß genug

Answer 5

This question has been answered satisfyingly well. I would just like to broaden the perspective on the more common (ab)use of adverbs in similar cases in informal oral language.

Die Marmelade ist alle.

is a sentence you probably wouldn't find written anywhere, but you will hear quite often when sitting with a family at breakfast, "alle" meaning "finished" or "used to its end so that the jar is now empty". Now, it may happen that this gets turned into an adjective like in

"Gib mir mal die Marmelade!" - "Welche?" - "Die allene, bitte."

This is clearly wrong in terms of grammar and style, but it is relatively common in informal language in some regions. People usually find it too circumstantial to form a grammar-conform sentence as in

"Die, die alle ist, bitte."

Even more often you may hear:

"Die Tür ist kaputt" - "Welche denn?" - "Die zuene da."

where "zuene" is an adjectivized form of the adverbial "zu" as correctly used in

Die Tür ist zu.

and a well-formed but circumstantial sentence to answer the above question would be

"Die, die zu ist."

"Zuene" came about in analogy to "offene", as in

"Die offene Tür ist kaputt."

which is a completely well-formed sentence.

Answer 6

"Genug" does not modify "Geld."

Instead, it is an adverbial that works with "have. The sentence, ich habe genug geld really means:

I have enough of money.