How to Say ‘Short-staffed’ in Simplified Chinese
人手不够
rén shǒu bù gòu
[rénshǒu bù gòu]
💬 Usage Tip: 人手 (rénshǒu) means "staff, hands available", not literally people's hands. 不够 (búgòu) "not enough" attaches to anything lacking: 时间不够 "not enough time". Here 不 reads (bú) before the falling tone of 够.
Phrase Breakdown
人手
rén shǒu
[rénshǒu]
staff; manpower
People available to do work.
店里人手很少。
The shop is short of staff.
不
bù
[bù]
not
Used to form the negative of verbs.
他不想参与。
He does not want to participate.
够
gòu
[gòu]
enough
Sufficient in amount.
钱够不够？
Is there enough money?
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