Level 5 · Advanced
Dying to: 恨不得 / 巴不得
Subj. + 恨不得 / 巴不得 + Verb Phrase
恨不得 (hènbude) means "itching to" do something impossible or wildly exaggerated: 我恨不得马上飞回家 "I wish I could fly home this instant." The wish is intense precisely because it can't really happen.
巴不得 (bābude) is its realistic twin: "couldn't wish for anything better" about something that genuinely might happen — 明天不用上课，孩子们巴不得呢 "no class tomorrow? The kids couldn't be happier." Rule of thumb: impossible wish → 恨不得, welcome possibility → 巴不得.
Examples
我恨不得马上回家。
我恨不得馬上回家。
wǒ hèn bù de mǎ shàng huí jiā
I can't wait to get home — I wish I could go this second.
他饿得恨不得把桌上的菜都吃光。
他餓得恨不得把桌上的菜都吃光。
tā è de hèn bù de bǎ zhuō shàng de cài dōu chī guāng
He was so hungry he could have devoured everything on the table.
明天不用上课，孩子们巴不得呢。
明天不用上課，孩子們巴不得呢。
míng tiān bù yòng shàng kè hái zi men bā bu de ne
No class tomorrow — the kids couldn't be happier about it.
她巴不得每天都是周末。
她巴不得每天都是週末。
tā bā bu de měi tiān dōu shì zhōu mò
She'd love nothing more than for every day to be the weekend.
Common mistakes
✗ 我恨不得明天放假。
✓ 我巴不得明天放假。
A realistic hope takes 巴不得. 恨不得 is for exaggerated, impossible urges.
Related grammar points
Practice this pattern in graded stories like Talking Price (Part 4) inside the Literate Chinese app.
