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I understand there is a difference between 可以, 能, and 会 in Mandarin. But is there any difference between 能 and 能够?
Also, is there any case where one word can be used but the other cannot?
At least I just got to know that 能够 cannot take a one-syllable verb (while 能 can). So it is not correct to say 她能够吃, but is there any other difference?
Both 能 and 能够 mean 'can/ able to'
Subtle difference:
能 mostly refer to 有能力 (capable/ able)
够 in 能够 carries the additional meaning of '足夠' (enough to)
Example:
"Three inch of water can (is capable of) drown a person" 三英寸的水能淹死一個人
"Three inch of water can (be enough to) drown a person" 三英寸的水能够淹死一個人
"one dollar can (is able to) buy one Doughnut" 一美元能買一個甜甜圈
"one million dollar can (be enough to) buy a persons principle" 一百萬美元能够買一個人的原則
Both "能" and "能够" means the capability of doing things. I would say there's nearly no difference between "能"&"能够", except under some circumstances.
For example, when one surprisedly said "他(很)能吃啊！"， it doesn't mean "he is able to eat", but indicate "he eats a lot!/ have a great appetite".
You need to get the true meaning with the scenario/context.
To @TangHo And for me, there is no difference between "三英寸的水能淹死一個"人 & "三英寸的水能够淹死一個人", "一百萬美元能够買一個人的原則" and "一百萬美元能買一個人的原則". In these cases (be enough to) equals to (is capable of).
I would say 能, as a single character, carries more meanings than 能够.
Sometimes, it relies on the context to determine whether the speaker refers to meaning 1 or 2. For example, 他能吃 could mean either 'he could eat it as his food' or 'he could eat a lot of it'. The former is the same as 他能够吃, and the latter is the same as 他真（/很）能吃.
