Ara fa sol, però després plou.

Fa sol is the normal Catalan way to say it is sunny.

Literally, fa means it makes / it does, and sol means sun, so the expression is built differently from English. Catalan often uses fixed weather expressions like this:

• fa sol = it is sunny
• fa vent = it is windy
• fa fred = it is cold
• fa calor = it is hot

So even though the English translation uses is, Catalan naturally uses fa in this kind of weather expression.

In Catalan, weather verbs and weather expressions usually do not need a subject pronoun.

English says:

• It is sunny.
• It rains.

But Catalan simply says:

• fa sol
• plou

The it in English does not refer to anything real; it is just a grammatical placeholder. Catalan does not need that placeholder here.

Catalan often uses the present tense to talk about something that will happen later, especially when a time word already makes the future meaning clear.

So:

• després plou = later it rains / later it’s going to rain

Because després already tells you the action is later, the present tense sounds natural.

You could also say:

• després plourà

That is more explicitly future: later it will rain.

Both are possible, but the present tense is very common in everyday speech.

Ara means now.

It sets the time frame for the first part of the sentence:

• Ara fa sol = now it is sunny

Catalan often places time expressions like ara at the beginning of the sentence, just as English often does.

Here, després means afterwards, later, or then in a time sense.

So in this sentence:

• però després plou = but later it rains

It is not the same as every use of English then, because English then can also mean in that case. Here it is purely temporal: later.

You may also see:

• després de = after
  • després de dinar = after lunch

But in your sentence, després is used on its own as an adverb: later / afterwards.

Però means but.

It connects the two ideas and shows a contrast:

• Ara fa sol = now it is sunny
• però després plou = but later it rains

So the sentence contrasts two different weather situations: sun now, rain later.

The comma helps separate the two clauses:

• Ara fa sol
• però després plou

This is very similar to English, where a comma is often used before but when joining two full clauses.

In short, the comma is normal punctuation here and makes the contrast clearer.

Yes, Ara hi ha sol is possible, but it is not exactly the most basic neutral way to express the weather.

• fa sol is the standard everyday weather expression: it’s sunny
• hi ha sol literally means there is sun

So hi ha sol can sound a bit more literal or descriptive, while fa sol is the usual idiomatic choice for weather reports or casual speech.

If you are learning the standard way to talk about sunny weather, fa sol is the one to remember first.

They come from two different verbs:

• fa = third person singular of fer = to do / to make
• plou = third person singular of ploure = to rain

In weather expressions, Catalan normally uses the third person singular.

Examples:

• fa sol
• fa fred
• plou
• neva = it snows

So even without a visible subject, the verb form is still grammatically third person singular.

Yes, a little, but the original order is very natural:

• Ara fa sol, però després plou.

You could also say:

• Ara fa sol, però plou després.

That is understandable, but it may sound a bit less natural in many contexts. Putting després before plou often sounds smoother because it clearly sets the time before the verb.

So for learners, the original sentence is a very good model to follow.

The accent marks help show pronunciation and stress.

• però has stress on the last syllable: pe-RÒ
• després has stress on the last syllable: des-PRÉS

In Catalan, written accents are important because they can show:

• which syllable is stressed
• sometimes the quality of the vowel

So you should learn these words with their accents, not without them.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Ara ≈ AH-ruh
• fa sol ≈ fuh SOL
• però ≈ puh-RO
• després ≈ des-PRES
• plou ≈ PLOW (rhyming roughly with English low, but starting with pl)

So the full sentence is roughly:

AH-ruh fuh SOL, puh-RO des-PRES PLOW.

The exact pronunciation depends on dialect, but this gives a helpful general idea.