Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
好雨知时节: reading Du Fu’s spring rain poem
Original Chinese study material with English explanations. Simplified Chinese with pinyin; beginner, intermediate and advanced are editorial difficulty labels.
春夜喜雨 (Delight in Rain on a Spring Night) is a public-domain Tang poem by Du Fu. 好雨知时节 personifies timely rain as knowing the season. Read the original poem below in simplified characters, with an original English translation. Notice how the poem moves from quiet rain to darkness and then an imagined morning.
好雨知时节，当春乃发生。
Hǎo yǔ zhī shíjié, dāng chūn nǎi fāshēng.
Good rain knows its season; with spring it comes to life.
随风潜入夜，润物细无声。
Suí fēng qián rù yè, rùn wù xì wú shēng.
With the wind it slips into the night, gently moistening things without a sound.
野径云俱黑，江船火独明。
Yě jìng yún jù hēi, jiāng chuán huǒ dú míng.
Country paths and clouds are all dark; only a boat’s light shines on the river.
晓看红湿处，花重锦官城。
Xiǎo kàn hóng shī chù, huā zhòng Jǐnguānchéng.
At dawn, look where the red blossoms are wet: flowers hang heavy across Jinguancheng.
This is classical verse, not a template for ordinary modern word order. 发生 is read within the poem’s historical language, and 锦官城 refers to Chengdu. “Rain knows” is personification rather than a literal claim about weather.
Try it
Which words most directly convey that the rain is quiet?
- 细无声
- 火独明
- 锦官城
Answer and explanation
细无声. 无声 means without sound. 火独明 concerns the isolated light and 锦官城 names the city.