下雨

下雨 (xià yǔ) means 'to rain' — literally 'descend rain.' It's a verb-object compound, which is unusual to English speakers: in Chinese, weather verbs typically combine a directional verb (下 'come down') with a weather noun (雨 'rain'), giving 下雨 'rain,' 下雪 (xià xuě) 'snow,' and 下雾 (xià wù) 'fog.' Two grammar notes: first, because 下雨 already contains a noun, you don't add another object — to say 'it's raining' you say 下雨了 (xià yǔ le), and to say 'rain heavily' you split the compound: 雨下得很大 (yǔ xià de hěn dà), not 下雨得很大; second, the subject is usually omitted (Chinese doesn't need an 'it' for weather), so the most natural way to report rain outside is just 下雨了.