迫不及待pò bù jí dài(idiom) unable to hold oneself back; eager to do sth without delay

1. 1.

   (idiom) unable to hold oneself back; eager to do sth without delayidiom

Figurative meaning

Unable to hold oneself back; eager to do something without delay.

• 迫urgent
• 不not
• 及in time for
• 待to wait

No attested origin story

迫不及待 often comes before 地 plus a verb, as in 迫不及待地打开, to show someone acting eagerly at once.

1. HSK 3

   孩子们迫不及待地打开了礼物。

   Háizimen pò bù jí dài de dǎkāi le lǐwù.

   The children eagerly opened their presents without delay.

2. HSK 2

   一下飞机，她就迫不及待地给妈妈打电话。

   Yí xià fēijī, tā jiù pò bù jí dài de gěi māma dǎ diànhuà.

   As soon as she got off the plane, she couldn't hold herself back from calling her mom.

1. 
   Speaker A:

   你的新手机到了吗？

   Nǐ de xīn shǒujī dào le ma?

   Has your new phone arrived?

2. 
   Speaker B:

   到了，我马上就打开了。

   Dào le, wǒ mǎshàng jiù dǎkāi le.

   Yes, I opened it right away.

3. 
   Speaker A:

   你真是迫不及待啊！

   Nǐ zhēn shì pò bù jí dài a!

   You really couldn't wait!

4. 
   Speaker B:

   是啊，我等了很久了。

   Shì a, wǒ děng le hěn jiǔ le.

   Yes, I had been waiting a long time.

1. 1.What does 迫不及待 mean?

   AEager to do something without delayBUnprecedentedCTo add insult to injury
2. 2.Which sentence uses 迫不及待 correctly?

   A他迫不及待地看了成绩。B这本书很迫不及待。C我们迫不及待了一个房间。
3. 3.Which idiom fits best? 门一开，大家就____地跑了进去。 (As soon as the door opened, everyone eagerly ran in.)

   A迫不及待B雪上加霜C前所未有

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Related idioms

• 不可思议bù kě sī yìinconceivable; unimaginable; unfathomableHSK 7–9
• 不知不觉bù zhī bù jué(idiom) unconsciously; unwittinglyHSK 7–9
• 不知所措bù zhī suǒ cuònot knowing what to doHSK 7–9
• 不约而同bù yuē ér tóng(idiom) (of two or more people) to take the same action without prior consultation; (usu. used adverbially) all (or both) of them, independently; as if by prior agreementHSK 7–9
• 不言而喻bù yán ér yù(idiom) it goes without saying; it is self-evidentHSK 7–9
• 与众不同yǔ zhòng bù tóng(idiom) to stand out from the crowd; distinctive; different from the restHSK 7–9

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