Мне жаль, что ты промок под дождём и теперь кашляешь.

Мне жаль is a very common way to say I’m sorry in the sense of I feel sorry / I regret that.

Literally, it is closer to To me, it is a pity or It is sad to me. Russian often uses this impersonal pattern for feelings and states.

Я жалею does exist, but it usually means I regret or I pity in a more direct, lexical way, and it does not sound as natural here. In everyday speech, Мне жаль, что... is the normal choice.

Usually no. In this sentence, Мне жаль expresses sympathy or regret, not an apology.

So it means something like:

• I’m sorry that happened to you
• I feel bad that this happened

If you want to apologize directly, Russian normally uses:

• Прости / Простите
• Извини / Извините

So Мне жаль is closer to emotional sympathy than to sorry in the sense of excuse me / my fault.

Because Russian often uses the dative for the person experiencing a feeling or state in impersonal constructions.

So:

• мне жаль = I’m sorry
• мне холодно = I’m cold
• мне интересно = I’m interested

The idea is not I do sorrow, but rather sorrow is felt by me or it is sorrowful to me. That is why мне is dative.

Что means that and introduces the clause explaining what the speaker is sorry about:

Мне жаль, что ты промок... = I’m sorry that you got soaked...

In English, that can often be omitted:

• I’m sorry you got soaked

In Russian, что is normally kept. Leaving it out here would sound wrong.

Промок is the past tense of промокнуть / промокать, meaning to get soaked / to become wet through.

A few important points:

• It is past tense
• It is perfective in meaning here: the person ended up soaked
• In the Russian past tense, verbs do not show person the way present-tense verbs do

So even though the subject is ты, the past verb is not something like an English-style you-form. Instead, Russian past tense agrees in gender and number:

• промок = masculine singular
• промокла = feminine singular
• промокли = plural

Because the sentence is addressing one person, ты, and the past-tense verb agrees with that person’s gender.

• If you are speaking to a man or boy: ты промок
• If you are speaking to a woman or girl: ты промокла

So this sentence is either addressed to a male person, or it is just being given in the masculine form as the default example.

Because промок presents the event as a completed result: you got soaked.

That is very natural here, because the sentence is about the consequence:

• first, you got soaked
• now, you are coughing

Промокал is imperfective and would suggest more of a process, repeated action, or background description. In this sentence, Russian wants the finished outcome, so промок is the better choice.

Yes, literally it does mean under the rain, but in Russian под дождём is a normal expression for being out in the rain or exposed to it.

So:

• промок под дождём = got soaked in the rain
• стоять под дождём = stand in the rain

It is one of those places where Russian and English use different prepositions idiomatically.

Because под takes different cases depending on meaning:

• под + instrumental = location or position under something
• под + accusative = movement to a position under something

Here, под дождём describes the situation you were in, so Russian uses the instrumental.

Compare:

• стоять под дождём = to stand in the rain
• попасть под дождь = to get caught in the rain

Also, дождём is the instrumental singular of дождь.

Because Russian often omits a repeated subject when it is already clear.

So:

• что ты промок под дождём и теперь кашляешь

means:

• that you got soaked in the rain and are now coughing

The subject ты applies to both verbs. Adding it again is possible:

• ...и теперь ты кашляешь

but that would sound more emphatic or contrastive. The version without the second ты is the more neutral one.

Кашляешь is the 2nd person singular present tense of кашлять = to cough.

So:

• я кашляю = I cough / I am coughing
• ты кашляешь = you cough / you are coughing
• он/она кашляет = he/she coughs

Here it means you’re coughing now.

Unlike промок, which is in the past tense and agrees in gender, кашляешь is in the present tense, so it shows person directly.

Теперь means now, and it helps show the sequence and consequence:

• you got soaked in the rain
• and now you’re coughing

So it gives the sentence a clearer cause-and-effect feeling.

You could leave it out:

• Мне жаль, что ты промок под дождём и кашляешь.

That is still grammatical, but it is a little less natural in this context because теперь neatly links the coughing to what happened before.

Yes. Russian uses ты for one person informally, and вы for either:

• one person politely/formally
• more than one person

Then the sentence would change like this:

• Мне жаль, что вы промокли под дождём и теперь кашляете.

Notice the changes:

• ты → вы
• промок → промокли
• кашляешь → кашляете

So the original sentence is specifically informal singular.