Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Portuguese grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Hoje chove muito.
Why is there no subject like “it” in Hoje chove muito?
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.
What tense is chove, and why use the simple present instead of a continuous form?
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.
Why is muito used instead of muita?
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”).
Can you omit hoje, and if so, what’s the difference?
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.
How do you conjugate chover in other tenses?
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.
Are there other impersonal weather verbs in Portuguese?
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.”)
Could you say Hoje chove bastante instead of muito? Is there a nuance?
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.