Llover sobre mojado

when it rains, it pours; **when it rains, it pours**; **adding insult to injury**; **one thing after another**; **to go from bad to worse**

Llover sobre mojado means that a new problem appears when a person is already dealing with previous difficulties.

The expression emphasises accumulation rather than the seriousness of any single event.

Someone may lose their job and then fall ill.

A company may suffer financial losses and then lose an important client.

A student may fail one exam only to discover that another important deadline has been moved forward.

In each case, one setback is added to another.

• bad luck comes repeatedly
• several problems occur in succession
• difficulties accumulate
• an already complicated situation becomes even worse
• someone receives another piece of bad news at the worst possible moment

The expression comes from a simple observation of everyday life.

Rain falling on dry ground may be welcome.

Rain falling on ground that is already soaked usually creates inconvenience rather than benefit.

Spanish transformed this familiar image into a metaphor for repeated misfortune.

Its simplicity explains why the idiom has remained popular for centuries.

Spanish speakers often use weather as a source of metaphor.

Expressions involving rain frequently describe emotional or practical difficulties.

In llover sobre mojado, the emphasis is not on the rain itself but on the idea that problems accumulate instead of arriving one by one.

Many languages use rain as a metaphor for repeated misfortune.

English says:

When it rains, it pours.

Spanish prefers:

Llueve sobre mojado.

Both expressions recognise the same universal experience: bad news often seems to arrive in clusters rather than one event at a time.

Avoid translating the idiom literally.

Although English speakers would understand the words, "to rain on what is already wet" is not an English idiom.

In most contexts, when it rains, it pours is the best equivalent.

However, if the emphasis is on making a bad situation even worse rather than on repeated bad luck, expressions such as adding insult to injury or to go from bad to worse may sound more natural.