Sugoi ame ga futte iru....

[Elizabeth]

Could someone explain the precise difference (which I know is a matter of nuance) between 'Sugoi ame ga futte iru' and 'Ame ga sugoku futte iru' ?

I asked someone when I was there and didn't entirely understand the answer, just that she started gesticulating wildly and waving her hands in imitation of the wind coming from all directions for 'Sugoi ame....' but not sugoku so it made me curious exactly where the distinction lay. I gathered from this the first one was used for unusually dramatic storms with lots of thunder and blowing winds, but other people have said no -- just that's it's too small a point to be concerned with.

 

[Glenn]

Well I don't know what the difference is semantically, but grammatically the first one means "an awful rain is falling" and the second means "rain is falling awfully." The first describes the rain, and the second describes the way in which it is falling. That's all I've got for you.

 

[Elizabeth]

Perhaps then Sugoi ame would be used more for rain blowing in from all directions making it impossible to be out in whereas ame ga sugoku futte is more appropriate for a hard driving, pelting type storm ?

 

[Golgo_13]

Perhaps then Sugoi ame would be used more for rain blowing in from all directions making it impossible to be out in whereas ame ga sugoku futte is more appropriate for a hard driving, pelting type storm ?

I tend to agree with Glenn, except "sugoi" doesn't ALWAYS mean "awful".

Sugoi Ame isn't necessarily about the direction of the fall but also the amount of the water. A torrential rain would be sugoi ame.

In most cases, the meaning is the same for both expressions. "It's raining heavily." People say it either way without necessarily consciously trying to convey different meanings.

"Sugoi" is the more colloquial form of "sugoku" and they are often used interchangeably. When people say "Sugoi ame ga futteru" they really mean "Sugoku ame ga futteru." And sometimes they might (in Osaka esp.) say "Ame ga sugoi futteru yan."

 

[Elizabeth]

Oh, OK, thanks Golgo. That's helpful. So both are pretty much of the same magnitude as 激しい雨が降っている or 強い雨が降っている （if 激しく、強く are indeed much less common） and not to worry too much about the finer differences for now. We actually had a thread over a year ago on rain expressions. Maybe something to search again.

 

[Golgo_13]

Yes. Let's hope it won't rain tomorrow.

"Ashita wa Halleluja!"