How do you say “It's raining cats and dogs” in Spanish?
The closest natural Spanish equivalent is Llover a cántaros, which literally means “To rain by pitchers”. English speakers use it's raining cats and dogs to mean a very large amount of rain is falling quickly from the sky. An established image for very heavy rain. Use “llueve a cántaros” or “está lloviendo a cántaros”. Register: informal, neutral. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural Spanish
Llover a cántaros
/ʝoˈbeɾ a ˈkantaɾos/
- Literal meaning
- “To rain by pitchers”
- Register
- informal, neutral
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Near-exact equivalent
97 out of 100
What a native Spanish speaker would actually say
English sends animals from the sky. Spanish imagines water pouring out of large pitchers. Both exaggerate how much rain is falling.
The Spanish expression is a natural vivid description. It need not have the slightly dated or textbook feel that the English can have.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning5 out of 5
- Tone5 out of 5
- Context5 out of 5
- Literal similarity2 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
What are other ways to say it in Spanish?
Llover a mares
Literally: “To rain by seas”
Another vivid description of very heavy rain.
Diluviar
Literally: “To deluge”
A single verb for rain falling very heavily.
Common translation traps
Llover gatos y perros
This is an English image copied into Spanish, rather than the usual Spanish rain expression.
The notes above explain why these versions do not work in this context in Spanish.
In context
English
It is raining cats and dogs outside.
Spanish
Fuera está lloviendo a cántaros.
English
It rained cats and dogs all afternoon.
Spanish
Llovió a cántaros toda la tarde.
Related expressions
Last updated 2026-09-13