In this lesson, we learn how to say ‘going to do something’ in French. This is a useful way of talking about the immediate future. Please note that lesson 11 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 51 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.
Day: May 2, 2009
Understanding weather in Spanish
Did you know that talking about the weather in Spanish can be quite tricky? This is so because the structure used in Spanish is a lot different to English and that’s why we have put together this basic guide for you.
In this blog post, we’ll introduce you to essential Spanish weather vocabulary and phrases that will help you understand and talk about the topic with ease.
Listen to the audio along with reading this article to learn how to correctly pronounce the phrases and also to practise!
Weather in Spanish: basic phrases
When discussing the weather in Spanish, you’ll encounter some common phrases that are quite useful. Let’s start with the most basic question – asking what the weather is like.
- ¿Qué tiempo hace?
If you are asking about today’s weather, you can add hoy (today) – ¿qué tiempo hace hoy?, but it’s optional.
Now that you know how to ask about the weather, let’s learn how to answer that question.
Describing the weather
Here are some fundamental phrases to describe different weather conditions:
- Hace calor It’s hot
- Hace frío It’s cold
- Hace sol It’s sunny
- Hace viento It’s windy
- Hace buen tiempo The weather is good
- Hace mal tiempo The weather is bad
These expressions use hace which is the third person singular of the verb hacer (to do/make) in the present tense, followed by a noun describing the weather.
Talking about rain and snow
In addition to the above phrases, you might need to talk about rain or snow. Here are the key terms:
- Llueve It’s raining
- Llover To rain
- Nieva It’s snowing
- Nevar To snow
These verbs are essential parts of Spanish weather vocabulary and are frequently used in daily conversations. As you can notice, we do not use hace for these.
Asking about future weather
When you want to inquire about the future weather forecast, you can use the following phrase:
- ¿Qué tiempo va a hacer mañana? What’s the weather going to be like tomorrow?
This phrase is particularly useful when making plans for the next day and wondering what to expect in terms of weather.
Discussing weather tomorrow
To answer the question, we’ll be using the near future structure (ir + a + infinitive). For example:
- Mañana va a hacer frío. Tomorrow it’s going to be cold.
- Mañana va a llover, pero después va a hacer buen tiempo. Tomorrow it’s going to rain, but later the weather is good.
Spanish weather vocabulary: practical examples
Let’s put these phrases into practice with some examples:
- Hoy hace buen tiempo, pero mañana va a hacer mal tiempo.
- Today the weather is good, but tomorrow the weather is going to be bad.
- A: ¿Qué tiempo have? What’s the weather like?
- B: Hace viento y hace frío. It’s windy and cold.
- Mañana llueve, así que lleva un paraguas. It’s raining tomorrow, so bring an umbrella.
That’s all for today’s article!
Understanding and discussing the weather in Spanish is an essential skill for beginners. By learning and practising these phrases, you’ll be well-equipped to talk about the weather with native speakers and enhance your Spanish weather vocabulary. Remember to use these phrases in your daily conversations to become more comfortable with the language. Whether it’s hot, cold, sunny, or windy, you’ll always be ready to chat about the weather in Spanish!
We hope this guide helps you on your language-learning journey. Keep practising, and soon you’ll be fluent in discussing the weather in Spanish!
In our next blog post and episode, we discuss something very important—we are going to learn how to check in to a hotel in Spanish. If you have holidays booked or you would like to visit a Spanish-speaking country soon, don’t miss the lesson.
Hasta la próxima, and happy Coffee Breaking!
