可怕 kěpà awful
awful; dreadful; fearful; formidable; frightful; scary; hideous; horrible; terrible; terribly
How to remember 可怕: 可 may + 怕 fear = awful.
Characters
How it is used
- Adjective describing something that inspires fear or dread: 可怕的梦 (kěpà de mèng) - a scary dream, 后果很可怕 (hòuguǒ hěn kěpà) - the consequences are terrible.
- Can also intensify a magnitude: 可怕的速度 (kěpà de sùdù) - a frighteningly fast speed.
- Different from 害怕 (hàipà), to be afraid - 可怕 describes the scary object/situation, 害怕 describes the person's own fear: 我很害怕 (I'm scared) vs 那很可怕 (that's scary).
Example sentences
- 太可怕了。 Tài kěpà le.How awful!
- 这真可怕。 Zhèzhēn kěpà.This is really terrible.
- 这太可怕了。 Zhètài kěpà le.That's terrible.