It's starting to rain.

[NeSmilga]

In one of lab stories I found this: "Une pluie légère commence à tomber".
Is here any shorter form to say the same? For me it sounds not very naturally - "falling rain". Can we say just "une légère pluie commence"?

P.S. I never liked "watery water" and similar stuff, so I would like to know whether the rain can start without indication of falling, especially in daily language.
Thank you in advance, and lingots for helpful answers.
.

[Puopjick]

In French "falling rain" is really natural even in daily language. We have an expression "il tombe des cordes" which means "it rains cats and dogs".

But you can say "une pluie légère commence" and it's used in daily language too. You can also use "Il se met à légèrement à pleuvoir", "il se met" meaning "it starts to".

[NeSmilga]

thank you.

[peterviuz]

If you just want to say "It's starting to rain", in conversation you say "Il commence à pleuvoir". The expression from the lab story is a bit literary.