ame no naka de hitori de matte ita tiisana neko wo mite, sukosi kawaisou da to omotta.

A helpful way to break it up is:

• 雨の中で一人で待っていた = that was waiting alone in the rain
• 小さな猫 = small cat
• 小さな猫を見て = seeing the small cat
• 少しかわいそうだと思った = I thought it was a little pitiful / I felt a little sorry for it

So the basic structure is:

• [relative clause + noun] を 見て
• [comment/thought] と 思った

In other words:
Seeing the small cat that had been waiting alone in the rain, I thought it was a little pitiful.

Because Japanese puts modifying clauses before the noun they describe.

So:

• 雨の中で一人で待っていた猫 = the cat that was waiting alone in the rain

This is called a relative clause. Japanese does not need words like that, which, or who here. The verb phrase simply comes before the noun.

They are doing two different jobs:

• 雨の中で = in the rain
  Here で marks the setting/situation in which the action happens.

• 一人で = alone / by itself / by oneself
  Here で shows the manner or condition in which the action is done.

So the two で particles are not redundant. They mark different kinds of information.

雨の中 literally means inside the rain, but in natural English it means in the rain.

The の links 雨 and 中, so literally it is something like the middle of rain or the midst of rain. Japanese often uses 〜の中 for in the middle of / amidst / during.

So:

• 雨の中で = in the rain
• 人ごみの中で = in the crowd
• 暗闇の中で = in the darkness

待っていた is the past form of 待っている.

Here it usually means:

• was waiting
• had been waiting

It describes an ongoing state/action in the past.

By contrast, 待った is simple past waited, which can sound more like a completed action. In this sentence, 待っていた is more natural because the cat is being described as being in the middle of that situation when it was seen.

So 待っていた猫 feels like:

• the cat that was waiting
• the cat that had been waiting

Usually, yes—or at least that is the most natural impression.

The form 〜ていた often describes a continuing situation in the past. So when the speaker saw the cat, the cat is understood as being in that state: it was there, alone, waiting.

That is why the sentence feels vivid and sympathetic.

Both 小さな猫 and 小さい猫 are possible.

The difference is mainly nuance:

• 小さい is the regular i-adjective
• 小さな can only come before a noun and often feels a little more descriptive, literary, or emotionally colored

So:

• 小さい猫 = a small cat
• 小さな猫 = a little/small cat, often with a slightly softer or more expressive feel

In this sentence, 小さな猫 fits the emotional tone well.

Yes, it can, especially in a sympathetic or personifying context.

Strictly speaking, 一人 is the counter for people, so learners may expect something else for an animal. But in real Japanese, animals—especially pets or animals the speaker feels emotional toward—can sometimes be described with 一人で to give a more human, empathetic feeling.

So here, 一人で待っていた makes the cat sound especially lonely and vulnerable.

Because 見る and 見える are different.

• 見る = to look at / to see
• 見える = to be visible / to come into view

In 猫を見て, the speaker is simply saying after seeing the cat.
The cat is the object of 見る, so it takes を.

If you used 見えて, the nuance would shift more toward the cat came into sight / was visible, which is not the wording used here.

Because 猫 is the direct object of 見る.

• 猫を見る = to see the cat
• 猫を見て = seeing the cat / after seeing the cat

Even though there is a long modifier before 猫, the noun itself is still the object of 見る, so it takes を.

It connects the first action to the next part of the sentence.

• 猫を見て、少しかわいそうだと思った
• Seeing the cat, I thought it was a little pitiful

This て form often links actions like:

• do A, then do/feel B
• because of A, B happened
• upon A, B

Here it means something like when I saw the cat or after seeing the cat.

Because かわいそう behaves like a na-adjective / noun-like adjective, so when it is used as a plain predicate before と, it normally takes だ.

So:

• かわいそうだ = is pitiful
• かわいそうだと思った = thought it was pitiful

This is similar to:

• 静かだと思う
• きれいだと思った

In casual speech, people sometimes omit だ in some places, but かわいそうだと思った is the standard form.

と marks the content of the thought.

So:

• かわいそうだ = it is pitiful
• かわいそうだと思った = I thought that it was pitiful

Everything before と is what the speaker thought.

This use of と is very common with verbs like:

• 思う = think
• 言う = say
• 感じる = feel

少し means a little or somewhat.

Here it softens the judgment:

• かわいそうだと思った = I thought it was pitiful
• 少しかわいそうだと思った = I thought it was a little pitiful / I felt somewhat sorry for it

This can make the statement sound more natural, modest, or less dramatic.

The subject is omitted because Japanese often leaves out information that is obvious from context.

Here, the understood subject of 思った is usually:

• I
• or the narrator/speaker

So even without 私は, Japanese readers naturally understand that the speaker is the one who saw the cat and felt sorry for it.

Because Japanese often omits repeated nouns or pronouns when the referent is clear.

After 小さな猫を見て, the listener already knows what is being talked about. So in 少しかわいそうだと思った, the sentence does not need to repeat その猫は or use a pronoun.

English usually needs it, but Japanese often leaves it unsaid.

In this sentence, it most naturally describes waiting.

So the intended reading is:

• the small cat that was waiting alone in the rain

not:

• I saw the small cat in the rain

Japanese placement strongly supports the first reading because 雨の中で一人で待っていた is grouped together as one clause modifying 猫.

Yes, very much.

Several choices give it a sympathetic tone:

• 一人で makes the cat feel lonely
• 小さな猫 sounds soft and affectionate
• 待っていた paints an ongoing, helpless situation
• かわいそう directly expresses pity

So even without changing the basic meaning, the sentence feels gentle and emotional rather than neutral or detached.