“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”
🤡 The Villain (The Daydreamer)
You buy a lottery ticket. You haven’t won yet, but you are already mentally buying a Ferrari. You tell your boss, “I quit!” because you are sure you will win. You plan a vacation to the Maldives.
The Result? The numbers come out. You lose. Now you have no job, no Ferrari, and you look foolish. You fell in love with a future that didn’t exist yet. 📉
🤠 The Hero (The Realist)
You apply for a new job. The interview went great! But you don’t post about it on Instagram yet. You don’t buy a new suit yet. You wait for the signed contract. You stay focused.
The Result? If you get the job, you celebrate for real. If you don’t, you aren’t embarrassed, and you move to the next opportunity. You protect your heart from disappointment. 🛡️
⚖️ The Reality
“Almost” is not “Done.” Excitement is a drug. It feels good to imagine success. But celebrating early is dangerous, it tricks your brain into thinking the work is finished when it hasn’t even started.
💎 The Secret: Focus on the process (the egg), not the prize (the chicken). If you take care of the egg, the chicken will come.
🧐 The Anatomy of the Proverb
This proverb warns against over-confidence and assuming a result before it happens.
Hatch (Verb): When a baby bird breaks out of its egg. 🐣
Count (Verb): To calculate the total number.
Before (Preposition): Earlier than.
Simpler Version: Don’t make plans based on something that hasn’t happened yet.
📚 Vocabulary Vault
Premature (Adjective): Happening or done too soon. (e.g., A premature celebration.)
Assumption (Noun): Believing something is true without proof.
Anticipate (Verb): To expect or predict.
Jinx (Verb): To bring bad luck by talking about a good result too early. 🍀
Outcome (Noun): The final result.
🧠 Grammar Focus: “Before” Clauses
This proverb uses a time clause with “Before.”
Structure: Don’t + [Verb] + [Object] + before + [Subject] + [Verb].
Rule: Even though we are talking about the future, we use the Present Simple tense after “before.”
Incorrect: Before they will hatch.
Correct: Before they hatch.
📜 History & Global Cousins
This wisdom is ancient. It comes from one of Aesop’s Fables (“The Milkmaid and Her Pail”), where a girl imagines selling milk to buy eggs to buy chickens… until she drops the milk bucket and loses everything.
Global Cousins
🇹🇷 Turkish:“Dereyi görmeden paçaları sıvama.” (Don’t roll up your trousers before you see the stream/river.) — Perfect match!
🇪🇸 Spanish:“No vendas la piel del oso antes de cazarlo.” (Don’t sell the bear’s skin before you hunt it.)
🇫🇷 French:“Il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué.”
🎭 Short Story: The Feast That Never Happened
Let’s go to the farm to see this proverb in action.
The Cast
😼 Whiskers (The Cat): Hungry, arrogant, and impatient.
🐔 Mrs. Pecks (The Chicken): Hardworking and silent.
🐸 Croak (The Frog): The wise observer by the pond.
The Scene: Mrs. Pecks was sitting on 12 big, white eggs. She sat quietly, keeping them warm. Whiskers the Cat watched from the fence, licking his lips.
The Dialogue:Whiskers: “Look at that! 12 eggs! That means 12 fat, juicy little chicks for my dinner next week. I will eat two on Monday, two on Tuesday…”
Croak (The Frog): “Ribbit. Careful, cat. Nature is unpredictable. Not every egg holds a chick.” Whiskers: “Quiet, you slimy green thing! I am already inviting my friends for a BBQ. I can taste the wings already!” 🍗
Whiskers spent the whole week building a grill and buying BBQ sauce. He told all the neighborhood cats, “Come to my house on Friday! Huge feast!”
The Result: Friday came. The eggs began to crack.
Egg 1-4: Out popped cute yellow chicks! 🐥
Egg 5-8: … Nothing happened. They were empty.
Egg 9-12: The Farmer came out, picked up the remaining chicks, and put them in a secure metal cage. “Safe from predators!” the Farmer said.
Whiskers stood there with his BBQ sauce. No chicks. His friends arrived, hungry.
Whiskers: “Uhh… would you guys like some salad?”
Croak: “Ribbit. I told you. You counted your chickens, but now you only have an empty stomach.”
The Moral: Whiskers focused on the feast, not the reality. Don’t set the table until the dinner is ready.
🎓 Lesson for English Learners
Don’t Rely on “Luck.”
Situation: You take an English exam (IELTS/TOEFL). You feel good.
The Mistake: You stop studying because you assume you passed. You tell everyone, “I’m going to university in London!”
The Better Way: Wait for the score. Keep studying just in case. If you pass, great! If not, you are still ready to try again.
Situation: You apply for a visa.
The Mistake: You buy your flight ticket before the visa is approved.
The Better Way: Wait for the stamp in your passport. Don’t count your flights before the visa is printed!
💬 Your Turn: The Reality Check ✅
We have all been “Whiskers the Cat” at least once.
Question: Have you ever celebrated something too early and then it didn’t happen?
Did you buy clothes for a party that got cancelled?
Did you plan how to spend money you didn’t have yet?
Tell us your story in the comments! 👇
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