bad things come in threes

English

Proverb

bad things come in threes

1. If an unfortunate event has already occurred twice, it will most likely happen a third time.

   Antonym: good things come in threes

Coordinate terms

• it never rains but it pours
• misfortunes never come singly

Translations

unfortunate events usually occur more than twice

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (no exact equivalent exists) 禍不單行／祸不单行 (zh) (huòbùdānxíng), 祸不单行 (zh) (huòbùdānxíng, literally “disasters do not come alone”)

• Finnish: ei kahta kolmannetta
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: non c'è due senza tre (literally “there is no two without three”) (also “good things come in threes”)
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can