下雨 xià yǔ — to rain

Meanings

1. 1

   to rain

   Literally "rain falls" — 下 is the verb and 雨 its subject. No word for "it" is needed, and none exists: 下雨了 is a complete sentence.

   verb

Character breakdown

• 下

  xià (fourth tone, falling)

  below, under, lower; to go down, to get off; to fall (of rain or snow); next (下个月)

  3 strokesRadical 一

Example sentences

• 昨天下雨了。Zuótiān (second tone, rising) xià (fourth tone, falling) yǔ (third tone, dipping) le. (neutral tone)···

  It rained yesterday.

• 下雨了，我们坐出租车去。/下雨了，我們坐出租車去。Xià (fourth tone, falling) yǔ (third tone, dipping) le, (neutral tone) wǒmen (third tone, dipping) zuò (fourth tone, falling) chūzūchē (first tone, high and level) qù. (fourth tone, falling)···

  It’s raining — let’s take a taxi.

Common mistakes

• Not quite天气下雨。

  Correct下雨了。

  下雨 already has 雨 as its subject, so nothing else can be put in front of it. Weather verbs in Chinese need no subject at all.

Similar words

Words containing 下

• 下xià (fourth tone, falling)under, below, beneath
• 一下yíxià (second tone, rising)a bit, for a moment (softening a request)
• 下来/下來xià (fourth tone, falling) lai (neutral tone)to come down
• 下去xià (fourth tone, falling) qù (fourth tone, falling)to go down
• 下午xiàwǔ (fourth tone, falling)afternoon
• 停下tíng (second tone, rising) xià (fourth tone, falling)to stop
• 留下liú (second tone, rising) xià (fourth tone, falling)to leave behind
• 下面xià (fourth tone, falling) miàn (fourth tone, falling)below
• 剩下shèng (fourth tone, falling) xià (fourth tone, falling)to remain; to be left over
• 以下yǐ (third tone, dipping) xià (fourth tone, falling)that level or lower
• 放下fàng (fourth tone, falling) xià (fourth tone, falling)to lay down
• 下次xià (fourth tone, falling) cì (fourth tone, falling)next time
• 下降xià (fourth tone, falling) jiàng (fourth tone, falling)to decline
• 之下zhī (first tone, high and level) xià (fourth tone, falling)under
• 地下dì (fourth tone, falling) xià (fourth tone, falling)underground
• 接下来/接下來jiē (first tone, high and level) xià (fourth tone, falling) lái (second tone, rising)to accept
• 下班xià (fourth tone, falling) bān (first tone, high and level)to finish work