English Vocabulary: Talking about RAIN

Love it or hate it, we all have to deal with rain. In this essential vocabulary lesson, you will learn some words and expressions that describe rain. How do you talk about light rain and heavy rain? What is the difference between “drizzling“, “spitting“, and “pouring“? What is a “puddle“? What does it mean if you are “soaked“ or “drenched“? Grab an umbrella, and get ready to improve your vocabulary. You will be singing in the rain in no time! TRANSCRIPT Hey, guys. I’m Alex. Thanks for clicking. And man, it is really coming down out there. So, today, you’re lucky. I’ve been inspired to talk about the rain with you guys today. On the board, I have a lot of vocabulary, nouns, verbs, expressions, words associated with rain and talking about it. So, first, we have: “Rain falls from the clouds.“ So, here’s a picture of a cloud and the rain is falling. Different things we say about the rain. So you can say simply: “Oh, look. It’s raining!“ So “rain“ can be a noun, like “rain falls“, “rain“. It can also be a verb, so: “It’s raining.“ You can say: “I love the rain.“ or: “I hate the rain.“ You can also just say in general, without the article “the“: “I love rain.“, “I hate rain.“ One or the other. You can say: “It’s gunna rain.“, “It’s going to rain.“ If you’re making a prediction, you look at the clouds, it looks dark. You can say: “Uh-oh. It’s going to rain.“ Very common phrase. -“How is it outside?“ -“Well, it’s a little rainy.“ So, you can use the term “rainy“ to mean there is a little rain outside. And you can also talk about rainy days. So: “I love rainy days. On rainy days, I love to stay inside, and read a book, watch a movie.“ Maybe you hate rainy days, because you want to be outside. Now, when the rain gets very extreme, you have a storm. So, this is when you can see lightning. Here’s a picture of a lightning bolt. And you can hear thunder. So, lightning is the flash you can see; thunder is the sound you can hear. And you might say: “Uh-oh. Look, it’s a thunderstorm.“ So there is a thunderstorm outside; lots of thunder, lots of lightning, lots of rain. So, obviously, when it rains, you need to bring an umbrella. So I have mine here with me today. And during a rainstorm, you also need a raincoat. I don’t have a raincoat. I never thought to buy one really. I don’t know. A lot of people have raincoats. And you can also wear boots or rain boots, because they are waterproof. Now, “waterproof“ is an adjective that you can use in many contexts. So, you can have a waterproof watch. Right? Waterproof boots, waterproof clothing. Okay? So, to protect you from the rain or from water in other situations. Below, we have some more intermediate and advanced vocabulary related to rain. So if you want to talk about the difference between light rain or heavy rain, here are some words and expressions you can use. First, if the rain is light outside, it’s possible to say: “Mm, it’s drizzling. It’s just drizzling.“ or: “It’s just spitting.“ So, if you look at “spit“, it’s the same as the verb “spit“, which is to go like this: “thhto“. Then, think of the rain like spitting down on you. So you can say: “Mm. It’s just drizzling.“ or: “It’s just spitting.“ Okay? If it’s very heavy, you can say: “It’s pouring.“ So, you can pour juice, pour milk, pour liquid out of a container. Same idea. It’s pouring outside. Or, you can use the expression that I used when I first started the video. “It is really coming down. Like really coming down.“ And when, you know, when you say “it“, everyone understands you’re talking about the rain, because when it’s raining, most people know that it’s raining outside, unless you work in an office with no windows. And then I’m sorry. So, if the rain is very heavy and you didn’t bring an umbrella, and you come inside and you have water on your clothes, on your shoes, on your face, everywhere, you can say: “I am drenched.“ or: “I am soaked.“ You can also say: “I got drenched.“, “I got soaked by the rain.“ Okay? So, here’s a causative sentence. “I got drenched.“, “I got soaked by the rain.“ And here, if you’re wondering what we call the little space of water, the little holes of water that appear after a rainfall, they are called “puddle“. “Puddles“, I’m sorry. So: “Look at that huge, big puddle.“ Not poodle, which is the dog, but puddle, which is the water. So, just to review: “Rain falls from the clouds.“ You can say: “It’s raining.“, “I love the rain.“, “I hate the rain.“, “It’s a little rainy outside.“, “I hate rainy days.“ If the rain is light: “It’s drizzling/spitting.“ If it’s heavy: “It’s pouring.“, “It’s really coming down.“, “I get drenched.“, “I get soaked.“, “Look at that puddle.“, “Bring an umbrella.“, “Bring your raincoat.“, “Bring your boots.“ and: “Stay dry.“ Okay?