害怕 hàipà 可怕 kěpà 恐怕 kǒngpà

Synonym of Afraid in Chinese

Posted on by tiffany

怕 pà, 害怕 hàipà, 可怕 kěpà, and 恐怕 kǒngpà are all related to the concept of fear, but they have different nuances in meaning and usage in Chinese.

害怕 hàipà

V. be afraid; be scared. You always need an object after it.

我wǒ害怕hàipà鬼guǐ
I am afraid of ghosts.

妈妈māma害怕hàipà蟑螂zhāngláng
Mom is afraid of cockroaches.

可怕 kěpà

Adj. fearful; scary; terrible. Something is terrible.

鬼guǐ超级chāojí可怕kěpà
Ghosts are super scary.

妈妈māma觉得juéde蟑螂zhāngláng超级chāojí可怕kěpà
Mom thinks cockroaches are super scary.

恐怕 kǒngpà

Adv. This structure indicates worrying and anxiety. It expresses fear that something will happen. When using this structure, please remember not to repeat the subject as you would in English. Additionally, since you cannot have two subjects in this structure, the subject before 恐怕 kǒngpà and the implied subject after it must be the same.

他tā恐怕kǒngpà不能bùnéng去qù你的nǐde派对pàiduì
I’m afraid he can’t make it to your party.

我wǒ这zhè周末zhōumò恐怕kǒngpà没有méiyǒu时间shíjiān
I’m afraid I don’t have time this weekend.

他tā恐怕kǒngpà他tā不能bùnéng去qù你的nǐde派对pàiduì X
He is afraid he can’t make it to your party.
(two subjects X)

我wǒ恐怕kǒngpà今天jīntiān天气tiānqì不好bùhǎo X
I’m afraid the weather is not good today.
(subject 1 is “I” but subject 2 is “the weather” X)

怕 pà

V. fear; afraid of; can’t stand something
Adv. indicating worry and anxiety. I am afraid of…
This is the most commonly used one. It can be used interchangeably with both 害怕 hàipà and 恐怕 kǒngpà, but not 可怕 kěpà. Additionally, it can also indicate that someone cannot tolerate or bear something.

我wǒ怕pà鬼guǐ
I am afraid of ghosts.

这zhè周末zhōumò我wǒ怕pà我wǒ没有méiyǒu时间shíjiān去qù你家nǐjiā
I’m afraid I won’t have time to go to your house this weekend.
(The funny thing is if you drop 恐 kǒng, then you will need the extra subject like you saying it in English.)

弟弟dìdi很hěn怕pà热rè
My brother can’t stand the heat.

我的wǒde狗gǒu不bú怕pà高gāo
My dog is not scared of heights.

Do you like it? 🙂

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