Chinese rain vocabulary and phrases

In this post we’ll look at rain related vocabulary and phrases in Chinese.

Unless you plan on staying inside, it’s likely you’ll encounter rain when in a Chinese speaking country.

How to say it’s raining in Chinese

The Chinese word for “rain” is xià (xià​yǔ), which is comprised of the characters for “going down” xià (xià) and “rain” (yǔ). If you look at the (yǔ) character it looks a little bit like rain, which hopefully makes it a little easier to remember.

Chinese rain vocabulary

Here is a list of Chinese rain-related vocabulary


rain
xià
xià​yǔ
raining
shuǐ
Yǔ​shuǐ
rain water
tiān
yǔ​tiān
rainy day
sǎn
yǔ​sǎn
(rain) umbrella

yǔ​yī
raincoat
fēng
fēng​yī
windbreaker

yǔ pī
poncho
mào
yǔ mào
rain hat
穿chuān
chuān yǔ
gumboots
湿shītòu
shī​tòu
soaked, drenched, wet through
lín湿shī
lín​shī
soaked
fēng
fēng
wind
léishēng
léi​shēng
thunder
shǎndiàn
shǎn​diàn
lightening
léishēngshǎndiàn
léi​shēng hé shǎn​diàn
thunder and lightening
léidiàn
léi​diàn
thunder and lightening (shortform)
fēngbào
fēng​bào
storm
bào
bào​yǔ
torrential rain / rain storm
táifēng
tái​fēng
typhoon
shuǐ
dà​shuǐ
flood
wàimiàn
wài​miàn
outside
wàibian
wài​bian
outside
miàn
lǐ​miàn
inside
bian
lǐ​bian
inside
shuǐkēng
shuǐ​kēng
puddle
nìngdeshuǐkēng
ní​nìng de shuǐ​kēng
muddy puddles
duǒ
duǒ​yǔ
to take shelter from the rain

Chinese rain example sentences

It’s a rainy day
jīntiānshìtiān
jīn​tiān shì yǔ​tiān

jīntiān
jīn​tiān
today
See our post on how to say Dates in Chinese – a full guide
shì
shì
is, to be
tiān
yǔ​tiān
raining

Take an umbrella.
dàisǎn.
dài bǎ yǔ​sǎn.


take
Instead of 带 the speaker could have also said 带上, which means essentially the same thing
.
bǎ.
an
把 is a classifier for items with a handle, like an umbrella
sǎn
yǔ​sǎn
umbrella

Bring a raincoat
dàishàngba
dài​shàng yǔ​yī ba

dàishàng
dài​shàng
bring

raincoat
ba
ba
<particle>
ba (ba) changes the sentence from a statement or order to a suggestion. It makes the sentence the equivalent of saying “how about bringing a raincoat?” instead of making the statement “bring a raincoat”.

It’s raining again!
yòuxiàle!
yòu xià​yǔ le!

yòu
yòu
once again
xià
xià​yǔ
raining
le
le
<particle>
le (le) indicates a completed action, indicates a completed action or past tense.

I wear my gumboots on a rainy day.
zàixiàtiān穿chuānxié.
wǒ zài xià​yǔ tiān chuān yǔ xié.


I
zài
zài
when
xiàtiān
xià​yǔ tiān
rainy days
This can be broken down to mean “raining” xià (xià​yǔ) + “days” tiān (tiān)
穿chuān
chuān
wear
xié
yǔ xié
gumboots
Literally “rain” (yǔ) + “shoes” xié (xié)

I’m soaked!
húnshēndōu湿shītòule!
wǒ hún​shēn dōu shī​tòu le!


I
húnshēn
hún​shēn
from head to toe, all over
dōu
dōu
entirely
湿shītòu
shī​tòu
drenched
Broken down these characters mean “wet” 湿shī (shī) + “completely” 湿shītòu (shī​tòu)
le
le
<past tense>

I’m soaked from the rain!
bèilín湿shīle!
wǒ bèi yǔ lín shī le!


I
bèi
bèi
by <passive voice>
bèi (bèi) indicates the passive voice, that is when an action happens to the subject of the sentence rather than by the subject. In this case “I was soaked by the rain”, where the action happened to me, where I am the subject of the sentence. If we wrote this sentence in the active voice, “the rain soaked me” shuǐ湿shītòule (Yǔ​shuǐ shī​tòu le wǒ), that is the rain water shuǐ (Yǔ​shuǐ) (the subject of the sentence) undertook an action on me.

rain
lín湿shī
lín​shī
to get soaked
The component characters here are “drench” lín (lín) and “wet” lín (lín)
le
le
<past tense>
le (le) can indicate the past tense, that is that something has already happened, but also the completion of an action.

Don’t get wet!
biélín!
bié lín​yǔ!

bié
bié
do not
This is a very common character, for example “do not speak” biéshuō (bié shuō) or “don’t go” biéshuō (bié shuō)
lín
lín​yǔ
get wet in the rain
The component characters here are “to drench” lín (lín) and “rain” (yǔ)

It’s windy!
fēnghěn!
fēng hěn dà!

fēng
fēng
wind
hěn
hěn
very

strong
Although (dà) can mean “big” or “large”, here it means the wind is strong.

It’s very windy outside.
wàibianfēnghěn.
wài​bian fēng hěn dà.

wàibian
wài​bian
outside
Literally this is “outside“ wài (wài) + ”side” biān (biān). You may also commonly see “outside” written as wàimiàn (wài​miàn), which is also perfectly acceptable.
fēng
fēng
wind
hěn
hěn
very

strong
Although (dà) can mean “big” or “large”, here it means the wind is strong.

There was a typhoon.
guāletáifēng.
guā le yī gè tái​fēng.

guāle
guā le
blow
The addition of le (le) makes this the past tense.

yī gè
a
táifēng
tái​fēng
typhoon

Everyone loves jumping up and down in muddy puddles!
rénréndōuàibèngláibèngzàinìngdeshuǐkēng!
rén​rén dōu ài bèng lái bèng qù zài ní​nìng de shuǐ​kēng!

rénrén
rén​rén
everyone
Repeating the character for person rén (rén) changes it’s meaning to be “everyone”
dōu
dōu
all
ài
ài
love
bèngláibèng
bèng lái bèng qù
jump in
Broken down this literally means “jump in, jump out”, that is:
– “jump” bèngláibèng (bèng lái bèng qù)
– “come” lái (lái)
– “jump” bèng (bèng)
– “go” (qù)
zài
zài
in
zài (zài) is typically translated to mean “at”, but can also mean “in”
nìng
ní​nìng
muddy
The component characters here both mean “mud”
de
de
<particle>
Here the de (de) applies the attribute of “muddy” to “puddles”
shuǐkēng
shuǐ​kēng
puddles
Literally this is “water” shuǐ (shuǐ) + “hole” kēng (kēng)

I slipped in the puddle and fell
zàishuǐhuálejiāo.
wǒ zài shuǐ​wā lǐ huá le yī jiāo.


I
zài
zài
at
shuǐ
shuǐ​wā lǐ
puddle
huále
huá le
slipped
Here le (le) indicates this happened in the past tense
jiāo
yī jiāo
a tumble
Here (yī) means “one” or “a” and jiāo (jiāo) means “to fall” or “to tumble”

The roads are all flooded
miànbèiyānle
lù​miàn bèi yān le

miàn
lù​miàn
road surface
“road” (lù) + “surfance” miàn (miàn)
bèi
bèi
by <passive voice>
bèi (bèi) indicates the passive voice, that is when an action happens to the subject of the sentence rather than by the subject. In this case “I was soaked by the rain”, where the action happened to me, where I am the subject of the sentence. If we wrote this sentence in the active voice, “the rain soaked me” shuǐ湿shītòule (Yǔ​shuǐ shī​tòu le wǒ), that is the rain water shuǐ (Yǔ​shuǐ) (the subject of the sentence) undertook an action on me.
yānle
yān le
flooded

The road is flooded
gōngbèiyānle
gōng​lù bèi yān le

gōng
gōng​lù
road
Literally “public” gōng (gōng) + “road” (lù)
You will often see the character (lù) used by itself to mean road.
bèi
bèi
by <passive voice>
bèi (bèi) indicates the passive voice, that is when an action happens to the subject of the sentence rather than by the subject. In this case “I was soaked by the rain”, where the action happened to me, where I am the subject of the sentence. If we wrote this sentence in the active voice, “the rain soaked me” shuǐ湿shītòule (Yǔ​shuǐ shī​tòu le wǒ), that is the rain water shuǐ (Yǔ​shuǐ) (the subject of the sentence) undertook an action on me.
yānle
yān le
flooded

I’ll shelter under a tree from the rain
zàishùxiàduǒ
wǒ zài shù xià duǒ​yǔ


I
zài
zài
located
shùxià
shù xià
under a tree
shù (shù) means “tree” while in this instance xià (xià) means under. For example niǎozàishùshàng (niǎo zài shù shàng) means the bird niǎo (niǎo) is on the tree zàishùshàng (zài shù shàng) .
duǒ
duǒ​yǔ
take shelter
Literally “to hide” duǒ (duǒ) from the “rain” (yǔ). You’ll see 躲 used in other context such as “I hid behind the door” duōzàiménhòu (wǒ duō zài mén hòu), where mén (mén) means “door” and “behind” hòu (hòu).