Hello can anyone think of an English equivalent to this idiom.
Thanks,
Thanks,
Un malheur n'attend pas un autre
- Thread starter lowcountry
- Start date
Could you please explain what this idiom means exactly?
It makes me think of
Bad things come in threes and
When it rains, it pours,
but I am not 100% sure of the meaning of the French idiom,
so these may not be correct.
(The idiom I'm familiar with is Un malheur n'arrive jamais seul.)
It makes me think of
Bad things come in threes and
When it rains, it pours,
but I am not 100% sure of the meaning of the French idiom,
so these may not be correct.
(The idiom I'm familiar with is Un malheur n'arrive jamais seul.)
Last edited:
Yes, good ones. Another one that works here is "it was one bad thing after another."
Moi de même. Je ne connais pas ce dicton Un malheur n'attend pas un autre qui ne me semble d'ailleurs pas très français (moins que Un malheur n'en attend pas un autre, que je ne connais pas non plus). D'où ça vient ?The idiom I'm familiar with is Un malheur n'arrive jamais seul.
Voici l'expression la plus proche que j'ai trouvée:
http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/un_n’attend_pas_l’autre:
Un n'attend pas l'autre.
http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/un_n’attend_pas_l’autre:
Un n'attend pas l'autre.
Un malheur n'attend pas l'autre, donc, signifie que les événements tragiques ou déplaisants s'enchaînent rapidement. Comment dites-vous ça en anglais ? It has been one bad thing after another, d'après Embonpoint #3, serait ma tentative.
Exactly. So take a vacation where everything went wrong. Your airplane was delayed. When you arrived, the hotel had lost your reservation and every hotel in town was full. You had to go to the next town over to find a hotel, but the SNCF was on strike. You would say "it was one bad thing after another."
I've often say: "It's just one thing after another." I don't know how widespread that is. Maybe it's just me.
On dit plutôt ça au Québec. En France, c'est peu naturel.
This is a good one too, and something I use as well. The "bad" is understood. If I'm currently in the moment, currently, suffering, I would say in present tense, "It's just one thing after another." If the problem is in the past, I would say, "It was one bad thing after another" or the same thing with the word 'bad' understood: "Our trip was a disaster. It was one thing after the other."
Take this Canadian radio program about the disasters in Haiti a few years back. The headline is "Une malheur n'attend pas l'autre en Haiti." http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/telejournal/2010-2011/Reportage.asp?idDoc=124042. In English, I would translate that as: In Haiti, it's one bad thing after another.
Mais Mauricet n'est pas québécois, que je sache? À moins qu'il ait écrit ce qu'il a compris, mais ne le dise pas?
Il me semble que le dicton « Un malheur n'arrive jamais seul » n'a pas le sens d'enchaînement. Je me trompe?
And so would I. But in French, we couldn't replace n'attend pas l'autre with n'arrive jamais seul in this specific context. At least I wouldn't.
We could, on the other hand, say : les malheurs s'enchaînent... l'un après l'autre.
I think Mauricet was looking for an English translation. As a learner of French I'm happy to add les malheurs se succèdent to my lexicon!
It would be nice if the OP chimed in and cleared up some of our doubts/answered some of our questions...
Je n'ai jamais non plus entendu un malheur n'attend pas l'autre mais,bien sûr
Un malheur ne vient jamais seul
Jamais deux sans trois
et, dans le feu de l'action:Ça continue! (celle-là je l'utilise souvent)
Un malheur ne vient jamais seul
Jamais deux sans trois
et, dans le feu de l'action:Ça continue! (celle-là je l'utilise souvent)
But when you say it's one bad thing after another, there is a kind of order: one bad thing, then another, then another.
Here we have un malheur n'attend pas l'autre, which means that bad things can happen at the same time. That's why I like the expression when it rains it pours because for me, it means that everything happens at the same time.
Here we have un malheur n'attend pas l'autre, which means that bad things can happen at the same time. That's why I like the expression when it rains it pours because for me, it means that everything happens at the same time.
D'accord aussi que Un malheur n'arrive jamais seul n'a pas le même sens. Mais on a aussi d'autres expressions imagées comme Les merdes volent en escadrille (que notre président Chirac aimait bien ...)On dit plutôt ça au Québec. En France, c'est peu naturel.
Celle-là, je la retiens.
Merci, Mauricet.
There is a similar expression in English:
The shit hit the fan
The shit hit the fan
Yes, but it's not necessarily more than one bad thing. You only need one piece of shit to hit the fan for there to be major trouble.
HiCelle-là, je la retiens.
FYI, the exact quote is :
Les emmerdes, ça vole toujours en escadrille.
Merci, LART. En fait, je préfère cette version.
Je sais que notre ex-président amateur de sumo ne faisait pas toujours dans la finesse, mais quand-même, moi aussi, je préfère cette version.Merci, LART. En fait, je préfère cette version.
I am truly enjoying this interesting exchange but would like to hear from the OP,
who has been absent from the conversation ever since posting the question.
Lowcountry, where did you see or hear Un malheur n'attend pas un autre?
If you read it somewhere, could you please provide a link to it--or at least
provide us with the surrounding text and the source? Thank you!
who has been absent from the conversation ever since posting the question.
Lowcountry, where did you see or hear Un malheur n'attend pas un autre?
If you read it somewhere, could you please provide a link to it--or at least
provide us with the surrounding text and the source? Thank you!