During evaporation, water from oceans, rivers, and other bodies of water is heated by the sun and turns into water vapor, a gas. This water vapor then rises into the atmosphere.
As the water vapor rises, it cools and condenses to form clouds. This process is called condensation. The tiny water droplets in the clouds eventually combine to form larger droplets.
When the water droplets in the clouds become heavy enough, they fall to the Earth's surface as precipitation. This can be in the form of rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Once precipitation reaches the Earth's surface, it may flow over the ground as runoff and eventually make its way back to the oceans, rivers, and lakes, where the cycle begins again.