HSK 3 · Verbs

害怕 hàipà “afraid of” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 害怕 means

  1. afraid of
  2. to fear
  3. to be afraid
  4. to be scared

How to say 害怕

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale害hài4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale怕pà4th tone, falling

害怕 in a sentence

  1. 我害怕狗。

    Wǒ hàipà gǒu.

    I’m afraid of dogs.

    Sentence #709160 from Tatoeba

  2. 你最害怕的是什么？

    Nǐ zuì hàipà de shì shénme?

    What are you most afraid of?

    Sentence #9316491 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 没事的，别害怕！

    Méishì de, bié hàipà!

    It’s all right, don’t be afraid!

    Sentence #446690 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 害怕 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 害 (hài) with each of its parts in a different colour
害hàito do harm to
  • 宀roof · mián
  • 丰abundant · fēng
  • 口mouth · kǒu
The character 怕 (pà) with each of its parts in a different colour
怕pàto be afraid
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 白white · báiSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 白 (bái) hints at the sound. Compare it with pà.

How to write 害怕

害 10 strokes · 怕 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

害怕 (hàipà) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 害怕 (hàipà). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 害怕

Words with 害

厉害lìhai · impressive害羞hàixiū · shy伤害shānghài · to hurt危害wēihài · to harm灾害zāihài · calamity利害lìhai · terrible迫害pòhài · to persecute陷害xiànhài · to frame

Words with 怕

怕pà · to fear恐怕kǒngpà · I’m afraid (that)可怕kěpà · awful哪怕nǎpà · even

More words: Thinking & Talking

放心fàngxīn · relax复习fùxí · revise感兴趣gǎn xìngqù · be interested in关心guānxīn · concerned about/with欢迎huānyíng · to welcome回答huídá · to reply记得jìde · remember检查jiǎnchá · to check

FAQs

害怕 (hàipà) means “afraid of” or “to fear”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it hàipà: hài with a 4th tone, then pà with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 害怕 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type haipa with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 害怕 from the suggestions. Typing haipa into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
害怕 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.