dereyi görmeden paçaları sıvamak

Turkish

Etymology

Morphologically dere (“river, creek”) +‎ -yi +‎ gör- (“to see”) +‎ -me +‎ -den +‎ paça (“hem of a pant leg”) +‎ -lar +‎ -ı +‎ sıva- (“to roll up”) +‎ -mak, literally “to roll up one’s pants before seeing the river”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.ɾe.ji ɡøɾ.me.den pa.t͡ʃa.la.ɾɯ sɯ.vaˈmak/
• Hyphenation: de‧re‧yi‧gör‧me‧den‧pa‧ça‧la‧rı‧sı‧va‧mak

Verb

dereyi görmeden paçaları sıvamak (third-person singular simple present dereyi görmeden paçaları sıvar)

1. (idiomatic) to count your chickens before they hatch; to expect something good to happen before being sure it will happen

Usage notes

• paça and sıvamak can be inflected according to the subject (e.g. dereyi görmeden paçalarımı sıvadım “I counted my chickens before they hatched”). See those pages for inflections.