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I was pointing at a thundercloud and saying that lightning may strike, and my Chinese friend said a 4-syllable phrase that meant that it happened just as I finished talking about it.

Do you know this phrase?

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  • something like 来得正好
    – Mou某 ♦
    Commented Jul 5, 2015 at 4:00
  • May I ask where is your friend from? And whether he/she is Mandarin speaking or Cantonese speaking? Culture makes a difference what phrase to use.
    – leo4jc
    Commented Jul 6, 2015 at 6:24
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    How about 话音未落?
    – user4072
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 11:11

4 Answers 4

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In Cantonese, it is "話口未完" wa6 hau2 mei6 yun4.

In Mandarin, perhaps "話還沒說完”，hua4 hai2 mei2 shuo1 wan2, but then it is five syllable, not four.

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  • +1 for the best answer around
    – Alex
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 18:24
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一语成谶 (yī yǔ chéng chèn)

Iciba: 一语成谶

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    I don't think 一语成谶 fits OP's requirement, it just means someone said something, and then (maybe after a long time, not immediately) it became true. And note that 一语成谶 only used for bad things.
    – user4072
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 1:34
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    一语成谶 is more like what you said has become an ill omen. It's way more serious than saying that lightning may strike and it did. Also as songyuanyao explained, the result does not have to be immediate at all. In fact, it's usually not immediate.
    – monalisa
    Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 2:29
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May be 恰逢其时（Something happened right you are doing something.）.

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It is not easy guessing what that phrase is without knowing whether it is Mandarin or Cantonese. In Cantonese it could be the colloquial 一講曹操 referring to 一講曹操，曹操就到. Its English equivalence is speak of the devil.

(I'm not sure if in Mainland/Taiwan Mandarin whether people just use the first half as 方說曹操 or 一講曹操 etc.)

Reference 1: 一講曹操，曹操就到

Reference 2: 說曹操，曹操就到

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