Questions & Answers about Het is zomer, maar het regent veel.
Does the word maar change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, it does not! The word maar (but) is a coordinating conjunction, just like en (and) and of (or). These words simply link two normal sentences together. Notice how the second part keeps the standard Subject-Verb order: het comes right before regent.
Why do we use het for both the season and the weather?
Just like in English, Dutch uses a placeholder word to talk about weather, time, and seasons because there is no specific person or thing doing the action. In English we say 'It is summer' and 'It rains'. In Dutch, you use het in the exact same way.
Could I translate het regent veel as 'it is raining a lot'?
Yes! Dutch generally does not use a separate continuous form like the English 'is raining' for everyday actions. The simple present tense het regent perfectly translates to both 'it rains' and 'it is raining'.
Why do we use veel here instead of erg?
You use veel (a lot / much) when talking about a quantity or an amount, like a large amount of rain. You use erg when you mean 'very' to describe another word, for example if you wanted to say it is very cold (het is erg koud). Since it rains a large amount, veel is the right choice.