HSK 4 · Function Words

恐怕 kǒngpà “I’m afraid (that)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 恐怕 means

  1. I’m afraid (that)
  2. probably
  3. fear
  4. to dread
  5. perhaps
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • maybe

How to say 恐怕

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale恐kǒng3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale怕pà4th tone, falling

恐怕 in a sentence

  1. 恐怕我现在得走了。

    Kǒngpà wǒ xiànzài děi zǒu le.

    I’m afraid I have to go now.

    Sentence #1446914 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 恐怕今晚会下雨。

    Kǒngpà jīnwǎn huì xiàyǔ.

    I’m afraid it’ll rain tonight.

    Sentence #346904 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 恐怕你要加班了。

    Kǒngpà nǐ yào jiābān le.

    I’m afraid you’ll have to work overtime.

    Sentence #372209 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 恐怕 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 恐 (kǒng) with each of its parts in a different colour
恐kǒngafraid
  • 巩to bind · gǒngSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 巩 (gǒng) hints at the sound. Compare it with kǒng.

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 恐怕

恐 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.

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

Words related to 恐怕

Words with 恐

恐吓kǒnghè · to threaten恐怖kǒngbù · terror恐惧kǒngjù · fear争先恐后zhēngxiānkǒnghòu · to compete eagerly

Words with 怕

怕pà · to fear害怕hàipà · afraid of可怕kěpà · awful哪怕nǎpà · even

More words: Particles & Connectors

尽管jǐnguǎn · despite竟然jìngrán · unexpectedly棵kē · measure word for trees and plants可是kěshì · but例如lìrú · for example俩liǎ · two (colloquial equivalent of 两个)另外lìngwài · additional难道nándào · don’t tell me …

FAQs

恐怕 (kǒngpà) means “I’m afraid (that)” or “probably”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it kǒngpà: kǒng with a 3rd 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. 恐怕 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kongpa with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 恐怕 from the suggestions. Typing kongpa into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
恐怕 is an HSK 4 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.