English
Alternative forms
Proverb
don't count your chickens before they're hatched
- You should not count on something before it happens.
- You should not expect all of your hopes to be fulfilled.
Translations
don't count on things if you don't have them yet
- Albanian: (don't put the pan on fire, while fish is still at sea) Peshku në det,tigani në zjarr
- Arabic: لا تشتري السمك وهو في البحر بل انتظر حتى يصطاد
- Moroccan Arabic: ما تگول عشرة حتّى تكون وحدة في التلّيس (ma tgol 3echra Hetta tkon weheda fi t-tellis)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: (勿打)如意算盤, (勿打)如意算盘 (wù dǎ rúyìsuànpán), (別)一廂情願 (zh), 一厢情愿 (zh) (bié yīxiāngqíngyuàn), (別做)白日夢, (别做)白日梦 (bié zuò báirìmèng)
- Czech: neříkej hop, dokud nepřeskočíš
- Danish: pels ikke bjørnen før den er skudt
- Dutch: de huid niet verkopen voor de beer geschoten is (nl)
- Esperanto: la manĝota fiŝo estas ankoraŭ en la rivero
- Finnish: (don't lick before it drops) älä nuolaise ennen kuin tipahtaa, älä nylje karhua ennen kuin se on kaadettu
- French: il ne faut pas vendre la peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué (fr) (don't sell the bearskin before you have killed it)
- German: (don't calculate like the milkmaid) mach keine Milchmädchenrechnung auf (not all too common); (don't call it a good day before the evening) man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben (common, but slightly different sense)
- Hungarian: ne igyál előre a medve bőrére (hu)
- Icelandic: (count one's chickens before they're hatched) hrósa happi of snemma, (the cabbage isn't in the mouth though it is in the ladle) ekki er sopið kálið þótt í ausuna sé komið, (the cabbage isn't in the mouth though it is in the ladle) ekki er sopið kálið þó í ausuna sé komið, (the bird shall be caught before it's cooked) fyrr skal fuglinn veiddur en steiktur
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References
- Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, ISBN 0-679-44554-4, p. 63.