pluie
/plɥi/feminine
The English word 'rain' is pluie in French.
pluie refers to an instance of particles falling. To describe the weather state where it is raining, you can use the phrase il pleut. If it is raining very lightly, you can say il bruine (it's drizzling). To express that it rained in the past, use il a plu.
Meaning: an instance of particles falling (noun)
Which one should you use?
While pluie refers to rain in general, une averse is used specifically to describe a sudden, heavy rain shower. For more technical or scientific contexts, such as formal weather reports, the term Précipitation is used to encompass various forms of precipitation.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
pluie is a feminine noun and is almost always used with the definite article la (la pluie).
How do you pronounce it?
/plɥi/
Did you know?
- In French, the expression il pleut des cordes literally means 'it is raining ropes', which is the equivalent of the English 'it is raining cats and dogs'.
- The word pluviophile is used in French to describe a person who finds joy and peace of mind during la pluie.
- In a figurative sense, il pleut can be used to describe a situation where something is happening in huge quantities, such as il pleut des critiques (criticisms are raining down).
Examples in context
- La pluie se calme.The rain is letting up.This sentence shows how to describe the rain letting up using pluie.Tatoeba #10945867 by lbdx, translation #974869 by MecklyBver
- J'aime la pluie d'été.I love summer rain.This sentence expresses a preference for summer rain using pluie.Tatoeba #3141696 by Aiji, translation #1510157 by CK
- La pluie s'est arrêtée.The rain stopped.This sentence describes the rain stopping using pluie.Tatoeba #432591 by qdii, translation #1352431 by AMIKEMA
- il pleut à flotsIt's pouring rain
- 390 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Emma and Nathan are looking out the window.
- EmmaRegarde, il y a enfin de la pluie !Look, there is finally some rain!
- NathanOui, le jardin en a besoin.Yes, the garden needs it.
- EmmaLa pluie va être forte aujourd'hui.The rain is going to be heavy today.
- NathanOn devrait rester à la maison.We should stay at home.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “rain” translations and entries pluie, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
