Expressing concern with "kongpa"

恐怕 (kǒngpà) can be used to express "I'm afraid that," or "I'm concerned that," or even "I'm worried that," followed by some sort of reason. It doesn't need to be something you're literally afraid of; it may be that you're just trying to soften the blow of some bad news, as in, "I'm afraid that I'm too busy washing my hair tomorrow night to come over and see the 2000 pictures of your trip to ComicCon."

General use of 恐怕

Structure

"恐怕" comes at the beginning of the sentence. The meaning is similar to "perhaps" or "probably".

(Reason,) 恐怕 + Fact / Conclusion

Examples

• 明天 我 很 忙，恐怕 没有 时间。Míngtiān wǒ hěn máng, kǒngpà méi yǒu shíjiān. I'm busy tomorrow, I'm afraid I don't have time.
• 已经 很 晚 了，恐怕 他 不 会 来 了。Yǐjīng hěn wǎn le, kǒngpà tā bù huì lái le. It's already very late. I'm afraid he's not coming.
• 这样 做 恐怕 不行。Zhèyàng zuò kǒngpà bù xíng. I'm afraid it doesn't work this way.
• 工作 太 多 了，恐怕 今天 做 不 完。 Gōngzuò tài duō le, kǒngpà jīntiān zuò bù wán. There's too much work. I'm afraid I can't finish it all today.
• 饭 太 多 了，恐怕 我 吃 不 完。Fàn tài duō le, kǒngpà wǒ chī bù wán. Rice is too much. I'm afraid I can't eat it all.

我 with 恐怕

A common mistake many people make when learning "恐怕“ is putting a pronoun, such as "我," before ”恐怕.“ It's a reasonable assumption, as "恐怕“ translates to, "I'm afraid" but the pronoun is more or less implied and grammatically incorrect when preceded by 我:

• 我 恐怕今天没有时间做作业。Never put 我 before 恐怕!Wǒ kǒngpà jīntiān méiyóǔ shíjiān zuò zuòyè.
• 恐怕 我 今天 没有 时间 做 作业 。Always use 恐怕 before 我.Kǒngpà wǒ jīntiān méiyóu shíjiān zuò zuòyè.I'm afraid today I don't have time to do homework.

See also

• "Would like to" with xiang
• Wanting to do something with yao
• Auxiliary verb
• Auxiliary verb "hui" for "will"

Sources and further reading

Videos

• Yoyo Chinese: "Have to and Don't have to"

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (3rd ed) (pp. 164-5) →buy
• 40 Lessons for Basic Chinese Course (基础汉语40课下册） (p. 301)→buy