🗓️ Idiom: Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch (proverb)
💬 Meaning
- Do not make plans based only on hopes.
- Wait until something actually happens before expecting success.
🧠 Example Sentences
- The manager told the sales team not to count their chickens before they hatch, since the deal had not been signed yet.
- She reminded her colleague not to count his chickens before they hatch after he celebrated a promotion that was not confirmed.
- The startup founder warned the investors not to count their chickens before they hatch until the funding was officially secured.
🏛️ Origin
This proverb comes from one of Aesop’s fables, written in Ancient Greece. In the story, a young milkmaid dreams of selling milk and using the money to buy chickens. She imagines how many eggs they will lay and how much money she will earn. But while daydreaming, she spills the milk and loses everything. The lesson is not to plan for profits before they are real.
📝 Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the blank:
The CEO advised the team not to ________ before the client signed the contract.
Answer
count their chickens before they hatch
2. Multiple choice:
What does “don’t count your chickens before they hatch” mean?
a) Do not rely on something before it happens
b) Always prepare for the worst
c) Raise chickens for extra income
Answer
a) Do not rely on something before it happens
3. Change the sentence using don’t count your chickens before they hatch:
He was already spending the bonus money even though it was not confirmed.
Answer
He was counting his chickens before they hatched by spending the bonus money even though it was not confirmed.
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