Expressing concern with "kongpa"

恐怕 (kǒngpà) can be used to express "I'm afraid," or "I'm concerned that" or even "I'm worried that" insert some sort of reason.

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.
• 工作 太 多 了，恐怕 今天 做 不 完。 Gōngzuò tài duō le, kǒngpà jīntiān zuò bù wán. The work is too much. I'm afraid I can't finish them all today.
• 饭 太 多 了，恐怕 我 吃 不 完。Fàn tài duō le, kǒngpà wǒ chī bù wán. The food is too much. I'm afraid I can't eat it all.
• 这样 做 恐怕 不行。Zhèyàng zuò kǒngpà bù xíng. I'm afraid it doesn't work this way.
• 恐怕 他 不 会 听 你 的 话。Kǒngpà tā bù huì tīng nǐ de huà. I'm afraid he won't listen to what you said.

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 méiyóǔ 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