diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index dea12e681..944275f8d 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ Features added
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
+* #3588: No compact (p tag) html output in the i18n document build even when
+  :confval:`html_compact_lists` is True.
+
 Testing
 --------
 
diff --git a/sphinx/transforms/i18n.py b/sphinx/transforms/i18n.py
index 7776af237..2618c7246 100644
--- a/sphinx/transforms/i18n.py
+++ b/sphinx/transforms/i18n.py
@@ -215,12 +215,12 @@ class Locale(SphinxTransform):
                 for child in patch.children:
                     child.parent = node
                 node.children = patch.children
-                node['translated'] = True
+                node['translated'] = True  # to avoid double translation
 
         # phase2: translation
         for node, msg in extract_messages(self.document):
-            if node.get('translated', False):
-                continue
+            if node.get('translated', False):  # to avoid double translation
+                continue  # skip if the node is already translated by phase1
 
             msgstr = catalog.gettext(msg)
             # XXX add marker to untranslated parts
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ class Locale(SphinxTransform):
             if isinstance(node, IMAGE_TYPE_NODES):
                 node.update_all_atts(patch)
 
-            node['translated'] = True
+            node['translated'] = True  # to avoid double translation
 
         if 'index' in self.config.gettext_additional_targets:
             # Extract and translate messages for index entries.
@@ -415,6 +415,12 @@ class Locale(SphinxTransform):
                 node['raw_entries'] = entries
                 node['entries'] = new_entries
 
+        # remove translated attribute that is used for avoiding double translation.
+        def has_translatable(node):
+            return isinstance(node, nodes.Element) and 'translated' in node
+        for node in self.document.traverse(has_translatable):
+            node.delattr('translated')
+
 
 class RemoveTranslatableInline(SphinxTransform):
     """