Question 1

Why is there no subject like “it” in Hoje chove muito?

Accepted Answer

In Portuguese, weather verbs such as chover (“to rain”) are impersonal. They only occur in the third-person singular and never take an explicit subject pronoun. So chove alone means “it rains” or “it’s raining,” without ever saying ele or isso.

Question 2

What tense is chove, and why use the simple present instead of a continuous form?

Accepted Answer

Chove is the present indicative of chover. In Brazilian Portuguese, the simple present often describes actions happening right now—especially weather phenomena. You will also hear the continuous form (Hoje está chovendo muito), but Hoje chove muito is more concise and equally natural.

Question 3

Why is muito used instead of muita?

Accepted Answer

Here muito is an adverb modifying the verb chove (“rains a lot”). Adverbs in Portuguese do not change form, so you always use muito. The form muita would be an adjective agreeing with a feminine noun (e.g. muita chuva = “a lot of rain”).

Question 4

Can you omit hoje, and if so, what’s the difference?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Chove muito simply means “it’s raining a lot” (right now or in general). Adding hoje specifies “today.” Without it, the sentence is still correct but less specific about the time frame.

Question 5

How do you conjugate chover in other tenses?

Accepted Answer

Because chover is impersonal, you only ever use the third-person singular form:
 • Present: chove  
 • Imperfect: chovia  
 • Preterite (simple past): choveu  
 • Future: choverá  
You never say eu chovo, nós chovemos, etc., when talking about rain.

Question 6

Are there other impersonal weather verbs in Portuguese?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Common examples include:  
 • nevar (“to snow”): Nevou ontem. (“It snowed yesterday.”)  
 • trovejar or trovejar (“to thunder”): Está trovejando. (“It’s thundering.”)  
 • amanhecer (“to dawn”): Amanheceu cedo. (“It dawned early.”)

Question 7

Could you say Hoje chove bastante instead of muito? Is there a nuance?

Accepted Answer

Yes, bastante (“quite a lot”) can replace muito: Hoje chove bastante. The nuance is minor—muito is simply more direct “a lot,” while bastante can imply “enough” or “considerably.” Both are perfectly natural.

Hoje chove muito.

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Master Portuguese — from Hoje chove muito to fluency