it never rains but it pours

English

Alternative forms

• it never rains but that it pours
• when it rains, it pours

Proverb

it never rains but it pours

1. Unfortunate events occur in quantity.

Translations

unfortunate events occur in quantity

• Arabic: هي المصائب لا تأتي فرادى‏‎
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 屋漏偏逢連夜雨 (zh), 屋漏偏逢连夜雨 (zh) (wū lòu piān féng lián yè yǔ), 一波未平，一波又起 (zh), 一波未平，一波又起 (zh) (yī bō wèi píng yī bō yòu qǐ), 喝口涼水都能塞牙縫, 喝口凉水都能塞牙缝 (hē kǒu liángshuǐ sài yá fèng), 祸不单行 (zh)

• Czech: (vulgar) když se to sere, tak se to sere
• Danish: en ulykke kommer sjældent alene
• Dutch: een ongeluk komt zelden alleen
• Finnish: kaikki on vastaan, vain saha puoltaa
• French: un malheur ne vient jamais seul (fr)
• German: ein Unglück kommt selten allein (de)
• Hebrew: צרות באות בצרורות‏‎
• Hungarian: a baj nem jár egyedül (hu)
• Icelandic: sjaldan er ein báran stök (is), það er ýmist of eða van (is)
• Italian: i guai non vengono mai da soli, piove sul bagnato

• Japanese: 踏んだり蹴ったり (ふんだりけったり, fundari-kettari), 降れば土砂降り (fureba doshaburi)
• Lithuanian: bėda viena nevaikšto
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: en ulykke kommer sjelden alene (no)

  Nynorsk: ei ulykke kjem sjeldan aleine

• Polish: nieszczęścia chodzą parami (pl)
• Portuguese: um mal nunca vem só
• Russian: пришла́ беда́ — отворя́й воро́та (ru) (prišlá bedá — otvorjáj voróta) (when the trouble comes, open the gate)
• Scottish Gaelic: nuair a thig air duine, thig air uile ("when it befalls one, it befalls all")
• Spanish: las desgracias nunca vienen solas, cuando llueve, diluvia, llueve sobre mojado
• Swedish: en olycka kommer sällan ensam, när det regnar så öser det ner
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: on måleur ni vént måy tot seu (wa)

See also

• bad things come in threes

References

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, ISBN 0-679-44554-4, p. 172.