How do you say “It's raining cats and dogs” in French?
The closest natural French equivalent is Il pleut des cordes, which literally means “It is raining ropes”. English speakers use it's raining cats and dogs to mean a very large amount of rain is falling quickly from the sky. This is the universal French idiom for a downpour. It is completely natural and remains the go-to expression in everyday speech. It is informal and common in everyday French.
Closest natural French
Il pleut des cordes
/il plø de kɔʁd/
- Literal meaning
- “It is raining ropes”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
95 out of 100
What a native French speaker would actually say
Both expressions describe torrential rain through vivid hyperbole, but they rely on entirely different imagery. Where English uses the somewhat mysterious and whimsical image of animals tumbling from the sky, the French expression draws on a direct visual metaphor: dense, vertical sheets of water that resemble suspended thick ropes ('cordes').
In terms of modern usage, 'il pleut des cordes' remains remarkably fresh and is still one of the most common ways to describe a downpour in spoken French. In contrast, 'it's raining cats and dogs' has acquired a slightly dated or textbook quality in contemporary English, where speakers often prefer simpler idioms like 'it's pouring' or 'it's bucketing down.'
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone4 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity1 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
What are other ways to say it in French?
Il tombe des hallebardes
Literally: “Halberds are falling”
More vivid and slightly dated, mirroring the picturesque feel of 'cats and dogs'.
Il pleut comme vache qui pisse
Literally: “It is raining like a pissing cow”
Familiar to crude, but widely used in informal spoken French across rural and urban contexts.
Il drache
Literally: “It's pouring down”
Standard colloquial French in northern France and Belgium.
Don't translate it literally
Il pleut des chats et des chiens
This is a direct calque that does not exist in French; native speakers will instantly recognize it as a translated English idiom.
Word-for-word versions like these are understood as literal statements in French, not as expressions.
In context
English
Don't go outside right now, it's raining cats and dogs!
French
Ne sors pas maintenant, il pleut des cordes !
English
We had to cancel the picnic because it was raining cats and dogs.
French
On a dû annuler le pique-nique parce qu'il pleuvait des cordes.
Related expressions
Last reviewed 2026-09-11