it never rains but it pours

English

Alternative forms

• when it rains, it pours

Proverb

it never rains but it pours

1. Unfortunate events occur in quantity.

Translations

unfortunate events occur in quantitiy

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 屋漏偏逢連夜雨, 屋漏偏逢连夜雨 (wū lòu piān féng lián yè yǔ) ("When the roof is leaking, that's when you get several continuous nights of rain"), 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) ("Just as one wave subsides, another one comes"; formal), 喝口涼水都能塞牙縫, 喝口凉水都能塞牙缝 (hē kǒu liángshuǐ sài yá fèng) ("Even water gets stuck in your teeth"; informal), 祸不单行 (zh)

• Czech: please add this translation if you can
• 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)
• 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
• Japanese: 踏んだり蹴ったり (ふんだりけったり, fundari-kettari)
• Lithuanian: bėda viena nevaikšto
• Norwegian: en ulykke kommer sjelden alene (no)
• Polish: nieszczęścia chodzą parami (pl)
• Portuguese: um mal nunca vem só
• Russian: пришла беда — отворяй ворота (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
• Swedish: en olycka kommer sällan ensam
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

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.