In Russian, you already know the verb идти to describe walking on foot. In everyday spoken Russian, however, it is also used in a wide variety of non-walking contexts, such as describing precipitation, the passage of time, or how clothes look on someone.

To describe precipitation, Russian uses the verb идти. Instead of having a separate verb for raining, Russian literally says that the rain or snow is walking. For example, 'На улице идёт сильный дождь' means 'It is raining hard outside', and 'Идёт мокрый снег' means 'Wet snow is falling'.

In the past tense, rain and snow take the masculine past form шёл. For example, 'Вчера весь день шёл снег' means 'Yesterday it snowed all day'. To ask if precipitation continues, say 'Дождь ещё идёт?', meaning 'Is it still raining?'. To answer that it stopped, say 'Нет, дождь уже прошёл', meaning 'No, the rain has already stopped'.