Getting Ready to Go Out in the Rain | Learn Japanese in English

Sentence explanations

1. 外は雨が降っています。

   It is raining outside.

   外は

   outside

   雨

   rain

   降っています

   is falling

   More detail

   外は means “outside” with は marking it as the topic: “As for outside…”. The noun 外 can mean “outside” or “the exterior,” depending on context. Example: 外は寒いです。— “It is cold outside.” 雨 means “rain.” In Japanese, it commonly appears as the subject of weather expressions. Example: 雨が降ります。— “It rains” or “Rain falls.” 降っています comes from 降る, “to fall.” Here, 降っています presents rain as falling now, and the form is polite. The pattern verb-ています can describe an action in progress; with weather, it naturally means that rain is currently falling. Example: 雪が降っています。— “It is snowing.” Together, 外は sets the location as the topic, 雨が identifies rain as what is falling, and 降っています says that it is falling now: “It is raining outside.”

2. 出かける前にブーツを履いてください。

   Wear your boots before you leave.

   出かける

   go out; leave

   前に

   before

   ブーツ

   boots

   履いてください

   please put on; please wear

   More detail

   出かける means “to go out” or “to leave” here. Its dictionary form is 出かける; a common polite form is 出かけます. In this sentence, it appears before 前に to identify the event that happens later: “before leaving.” 前に means “before.” 前 is a noun meaning “front” or “before,” and に marks the relevant time. The reusable pattern is [verb in dictionary form] + 前に = “before doing [verb].” Example: 寝る前に歯を磨きます。 — “I brush my teeth before going to bed.” ブーツ is the noun “boots.” It is a loanword written in katakana. The sentence does not itself specify a number beyond the plural meaning supplied by “boots” in the translation; Japanese nouns generally do not require a plural ending. 履いてください is a polite request meaning “please put on” or “please wear” footwear. The lexical verb is 履く, “to put on/wear items worn on the feet,” and 履いて is its te-form. Adding ください to a te-form creates a polite request: [te-form] + ください = “please do [verb].” For example, 靴を履いてください。 — “Please put on your shoes.” 履く is used for footwear and lower-body items; 着る is used for clothing worn on the upper body. Together, 出かける前に sets the time as “before you leave,” ブーツを marks boots as the object, and 履いてください politely requests putting them on. The whole utterance is therefore: “Wear your boots before you leave.”

3. 道に水たまりがあります。

   There are puddles on the path.

   道

   path; road

   水たまり

   puddle

   あります

   there is; there are

   More detail

   道 means “path” or “road.” In this sentence, it is the place where something exists. A useful related contrast is 道を歩く (“walk along the road”), where を marks the route or object of the action rather than the location of existence. に follows 道 and marks the location: 道に means “on the path” or “on the road.” This location pattern is reusable with an existence statement, as in the example 机の上に本があります。 — “There is a book on the desk.” This is a new example, not a fact from the supplied conversation. 水たまり means “puddle.” It is the thing whose existence is stated. The following context refers back to these puddles, supporting the plural English translation, although Japanese does not require a plural ending on this noun. The form itself can refer to one or more puddles depending on context. あります is the polite nonpast form of ある, used here to say that an inanimate thing exists or is located somewhere. Its polite form is あります; the plain form is ある. For people and animals, Japanese normally uses います instead, as in the new example 公園に子どもがいます。 — “There are children in the park.” This example is illustrative, not part of the supplied conversation. Together, 道に sets the location, 水たまり identifies what is there, and あります states its existence politely: “There are puddles on the path.”

4. 水たまりをゆっくりよけて歩いてください。

   Step around them slowly.

   水たまり

   puddle

   ゆっくり

   slowly

   よけて

   avoid; step around

   歩いてください

   please walk

   More detail

   水たまり means “puddle” here. It is a noun; Japanese does not mark its plural in this form. The preceding context and the fixed translation support “them” here, referring to the puddles. With を, it marks the puddle(s) as the object of the action: 水たまりをよける means “avoid or go around a puddle.” ゆっくり is an adverb meaning “slowly.” It describes how the walking or maneuvering is done. For example, ゆっくり歩いてください。 means “Please walk slowly.” よけて is the て-form of よける in the sense “to avoid” or “to go around.” In this kana-only spelling, the exact kanji choice is not shown; a related spelling such as 避ける can also be read よける, so the observed form should not be claimed to be distinct from that spelling. The て-form links this action with the following action. Here, it describes walking while going around the puddles. 歩いてください consists of 歩いて, the て-form of 歩く (“walk”), plus ください, which makes a polite request. Thus 歩いてください is “please walk.” A reusable pattern is verb-てください, such as 待ってください。 — “Please wait.” Together, 水たまりをよけて identifies what to go around, ゆっくり specifies the pace, and 歩いてください makes a polite request to walk. The full utterance is “Step around them slowly.” Japanese 水たまり itself does not mark number; the supplied context supports the plural “them” here.

5. 私のバッグはぬれるかもしれません。

   My bag might get wet.

   私の

   my

   バッグ

   bag

   ぬれる

   get wet

   かもしれません

   might; may

   More detail

   私の means “my” here. 私 is the first-person pronoun “I/me,” and の links it to the following noun to show possession or another noun-to-noun relationship. The possessor comes before the noun: 私のバッグ = “my bag.” The form 私の itself does not change for the owner’s number or gender. バッグ is the noun “bag.” It is a loanword written in katakana; the small ッ represents a doubled consonant in its pronunciation. A reusable pattern is Xのバッグ for “X’s bag” or “the bag belonging to X.” ぬれる means “get wet” or “become wet” in this sentence. It is an intransitive verb: the bag undergoes the change of state rather than directly wetting something else. The observed form is the plain, non-past form; its polite counterpart is ぬれます. For example, 靴がぬれました。 means “My shoes got wet.” かもしれません adds the meaning “might” or “may.” It is the polite form of かもしれない and expresses possibility rather than certainty. It follows a plain-form clause, so ぬれるかもしれません means “might get wet.” For example, 明日は雨かもしれません。 means “It might rain tomorrow.” Together, 私のバッグ identifies the thing affected, and ぬれるかもしれません says that getting wet is possible. The topic marker は presents that bag as the topic, producing the meaning “My bag might get wet.”

6. バッグをコートの下に入れておいてください。

   Keep it under your coat.

   バッグ

   bag

   コート

   coat

   下

   underneath

   入れておいてください

   please put it in and leave it there

   More detail

   バッグ is the noun “bag.” In this sentence, the omitted object in the English translation “it” is understood as this bag, supported by the preceding sentence. The particle を marks バッグ as what is placed. The same noun can be used in other sentences, for example: バッグを持ちます。 — “I carry a bag.” コート is the noun “coat.” Here it is followed by の, which links it to 下: コートの下 means “under the coat.” の commonly connects a noun with another noun by expressing a relation such as possession, association, or location. 下 means “underneath” or “the lower part.” With に, コートの下に identifies the place toward which something is put: “under the coat.” The particle に can mark a destination or resulting location. For example: 本を机の下に置きます。 — “I put the book under the desk.” 入れておいてください is a polite request meaning “please put it in and leave it there” or “please keep it there.” 入れて is the te-form of 入れる, “to put in” or “to insert.” The construction ておく adds the idea of doing something in advance or leaving the result in place; here, 入れておく means to put the bag under the coat and keep it there. ください makes the request polite. The observed form is therefore 入れる → 入れて + おく → おいて + ください; おいて here is the auxiliary use of おく, not a separate request to place something. Together, バッグを marks the bag as the object, コートの下に gives its destination, and 入れておいてください politely asks someone to put it there and leave it there. The complete meaning is: “Please put the bag under the coat and keep it there,” corresponding to the fixed translation “Keep it under your coat.”

7. 私も傘を持っていったほうがいいです。

   I should take an umbrella too.

   私も

   I too; me as well

   傘

   umbrella

   持っていった

   took; carried along

   ほうがいい

   it is better to

   More detail

   私も means “I too” or “I as well.” 私 is the first-person pronoun “I,” and も adds the meaning “also/too” to the phrase. The sentence therefore presents the speaker as included in the recommendation, without specifying what another person did. 傘 means “umbrella.” It is a noun. With the object marker を, the phrase 傘を means “an umbrella” as the thing affected by the action. Japanese does not use an article in this phrase, so を does not itself say how many umbrellas there are. 持っていった is the past form of 持っていく, “to take/carry something along.” The form is built from 持つ (“hold, carry”) plus いく (“go”), with 持って linking the actions and いった marking the completed movement. In this sentence, it appears before ほうがいい, where the completed-looking form is part of the reusable recommendation pattern verb-た + ほうがいい: “it is better to do ...” or “you should do ...”. Here, 持っていった means “take an umbrella along,” not simply “held an umbrella.” ほうがいい literally uses the noun ほう (“way/option”) with がいい (“is good”), but the full construction gives advice. After a verb in the た-form, verb-たほうがいい recommends doing that action. It is distinct from verb-ないほうがいい, which recommends not doing it. For example, 早く寝たほうがいいです。 means “You should go to bed early.” Together, 私も (“I too”), 傘を (“an umbrella”), and 持っていったほうがいいです (“should take along”) produce: “I should take an umbrella too.” The polite ending です makes the advice statement polite. In this context, the recommendation fits the possibility of getting wet indicated by the surrounding utterances.

8. それで、ぬれにくくなります。

   That will help keep you dry.

   それで

   so; with that

   ぬれにくく

   hard to get wet

   なります

   becomes

   More detail

   それで means “with that” or “as a result.” Here, together with the preceding idea of taking an umbrella, it introduces the result: that will help prevent getting wet. The form それで is a connective expression, not the subject of the following verb. ぬれにくく comes from ぬれる (“to get wet”) plus にくい (“difficult to…”). The observed にくく is the -く form of the adjective にくい, used before なる. Thus ぬれにくい means “unlikely to get wet” or “hard to get wet,” while ぬれにくく connects that description to a change. Example: この靴はぬれにくい。 — “These shoes are unlikely to get wet.” なります is the polite nonpast form of なる (“to become”). After an adjective in its connecting form, 〜くなる means “become …” or “become more … in that way.” Example: 暖かくなります。 — “It becomes warmer.” Together, ぬれにくくなります means “become less likely to get wet.” With それで, the whole utterance says that using or taking the umbrella will help keep the person dry. The nonpast polite form presents this as the expected result, not as a claim that getting wet is impossible.