# Mala tempora currunt



## Kkatia

Potete aiutarmi con questa frase per favore -
"mala tempora currunt". Che vuol dire in inglese? 
Grazie!


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## Pinairun

Kkatia said:


> Potete aiutarmi con questa frase per favore -
> "mala tempora currunt". Che vuol dire in inglese?
> Grazie!


 

There are hard times or rainy days.

Prego


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## Hamlet2508

Kkatia said:


> Potete aiutarmi con questa frase per favore -
> "mala tempora currunt". Che vuol dire in inglese?
> Grazie!


 
I'd go for "bad times are upon us"

Regards,
hamlet


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## wonderment

Kkatia said:


> Potete aiutarmi con questa frase per favore -
> "mala tempora currunt". Che vuol dire in inglese?
> Grazie!



Hi there  

A line from Flaubert comes to mind: “_Tout s’en va, tout passe, l’eau coule, et le coeur oublie._”  
So a bit more optimistically, I’d translate _mala tempora currunt_ as “Bad times do move on.”


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## dichelson

Pinairun said:


> There are hard times or rainy days.
> 
> Prego


 
"There are rainy days" is not the usual meaning. Of course it could be said as a joke.


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## Cagey

Literally this means "bad times are running, moving quickly".  As the above translations show, the direction in which the bad times are going is ambiguous.  

It seems to be a saying the Italians use.  An Italian tells me that it means that 'bad times are coming'.  In other words, here _currunt_ means "are approaching quickly".  A more literary version might be a slight variation of Hamlet's version: "bad times are fast upon us." 

(Hi dichelson.)


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## Pinairun

WR*: *
malos tiempos (_o fig_ tiempo de vacas flacas)*,* hard times _o_ rainy days 

"To keep always something (money) for a rainy day", is it a joke? I don't think so. I think it's similar (fig.) to say: to keep money for a bad time.

The sense of this sentence may be:  *We* *are living in hard times, bad times, difficult times.*

Because "Mala tempora currunt = Bad times run, bad times are running", cann't be literally translated into english


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## Kkatia

Thanks for all the help guys!

I think the translation "rainy days are approaching" is most accurate for this particular example. The entire phrase is:

"Per il prossimo Natale (mala tempora currunt anche per i marsupiali), arrivera' nel Regno Unito perfino la carne surgelata di canguru". 

In this way, the translation to 'rainy' days/times as opposed to'difficult/hard/bad' times makes reference to the winter weather in England during Christmas time, as well as the hard/rainy times approaching for kangaroos as they hit the frozen food section. 

Tricky to translate though, because in English you wouldn't really say "rainy days are approaching" in place of "hard times are approaching"..


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