The more you fear it, the worse it gets – Chinese expression 怕什么， 来什么

There are lots of oral Chinese expressions that are not only easy to understand but also easy to memorize. In this post, you’ll get to know one of this kind. And I believe there will be lots of chances that you could put this Chinese phrase into practical use.

Did it ever happen to you that no matter how hard you prayed in your heart, things still turned against your will. The worst scenario caught you up in the end. This is called 怕什么，来什么 pà shénme， lái shénme。(Lit: Whatever you worried most eventually came against all odds.) It can also indicate that your gut feeling tells you the worst is very likely to happen, and you wish so hard that the feeling is wrong, but it isn’t.

I’ll show you how to use it in the following two examples:

 

    wǒ gàosu dìdi bùyào kāi wǒ de chē chūqù， tā bù tīng， zuìzhōng háishi chū le chēhuò。 zhēn shì pà shénme， lái shénme。

    我告诉弟弟不要开我的车出去，他不听，最终还是出了车祸。真是怕什么，来什么。

    I told my brother not to drive my car around, he wouldn’t listen and eventually had my car crashed. Exactly the more you fear it, the worse it gets.

    

    zhèxiē tiān shì pà shénme， lái shénme。 wǒ zǒng rènwéi zhè mén kǎoshì wǒ yīdìng huì jígé， kě piānpiān jiù méi jígé!

    这些天是怕什么，来什么。我总认为这门考试我一定会及格，可偏偏就没及格!

    I’ve run out of luck these days. I was so sure I was able to pass the test, yet it turned out I actually failed it!

 

See whether you can think of situations that you can give this phrase a try?