How to Talk About Basic Weather Conditions

Learn how to talk about basic weather conditions

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Can-Do Spanish by SpanishPod101.com.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about weather conditions in Spanish.

For example, "It's raining." is

Está lloviendo.

Valeria Varela is in rainy Mexico City.

She’s on a long-distance call with María Ávila Cruz, her former colleague, who asks about the current weather.

Before you hear their conversation, let's preview some of its key components.

clima

"weather"

clima

lloviendo

"raining"

lloviendo

Listen to the conversation and focus on the response.

Ready?

¿Cómo está el clima?

Está lloviendo.

Once more with the English translation.

¿Cómo está el clima?

"How is the weather?"

Está lloviendo.

"It's raining."

Let's break down the conversation.

Do you remember how Maria asks,

"How is the weather?"

¿Cómo está el clima?

First is cómo, "how." Cómo. Cómo.

Next is está, "is," as in "How is." Está. Está.

Está is from the verb, estar, "to be." Estar.

Next is el clima, "the weather." El clima.

Let’s start with clima, "weather." Clima. Clima.

In Spanish, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Clima is masculine and singular — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence.

Note: a general rule of thumb is that nouns that end in -a are feminine; however, there are exceptions to the rule, as in the case of clima.

Before clima is the article, el. Think of it like "the" in English. El. El.

El is also masculine and singular to agree with clima.

Together it's el clima, "the weather." El clima.

All together, it's ¿Cómo está el clima? Literally, "How is the weather?"

¿Cómo está el clima?

Let's take a closer look at the response.

Do you remember how Valeria says,

"It’s raining."

Está lloviendo.

First is está, literally, "is," but translates as "It’s," in this context. Está. Está.

Next is lloviendo, "raining." Lloviendo. Lloviendo.

Lloviendo is from the verb llover, meaning "to rain." Llover.

Together, Está lloviendo, translating as, "It’s raining."

Está lloviendo.

Note: the corresponding Spanish word for "it" is understood from context.

The pattern is

Está WEATHER CONDITION.

"It’s WEATHER CONDITION."

Está WEATHER CONDITION.

To use this pattern, simply replace the {weather condition} placeholder with a suitable word that describes a weather condition.

Note: this pattern requires a gerund form to complete the present continuous verb tense. This includes nevando, “snowing,” which is from the verb, nevar, “to snow,” or granizando, “hailing,” which is from the verb, granizar, “to hail.”

Imagine you are in a very cold place, and it's "snowing." Nevando. Nevando. Nevando.

Say

"It's snowing."

Ready?

Está nevando.

"It's snowing."

Está nevando.

Not all weather conditions can be described with this pattern using a gerund, so you'll need other patterns, such as:

Está WEATHER CONDITION.

"It’s WEATHER CONDITION."

Está WEATHER CONDITION.

To use this pattern, simply replace The {weather condition} placeholder with a suitable weather condtion.

Note: This pattern requires an adjective.

The WEATHER CONDITION placeholder can also be replaced with an adjective.

For example, Está soleado. It’s sunny. Está soleado.

In this lesson, you'll learn adjectives related to the weather that you can use with this pattern, such as soleado, "sunny," nublado, "cloudy," and húmedo, "humid."

In Spanish, there are several patterns used to talk about the weather. This lesson focuses on a pattern using, estar, the verb "to be" used to talk about temporary states and/or conditions related to the weather. Estar.

In Spanish, you can’t use any participle or adjective with the construction, esta. It’s restricted to a set of participles and adjectives, some of which are covered in this lesson.

Again, the key pattern is

Está WEATHER CONDITION.

"It’s WEATHER CONDITION."

Está WEATHER CONDITION.

Let's look at some more examples.

Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers.

Está lloviendo.

"It's raining."

Está lloviendo.

Está nevando.

"It's snowing."

Está nevando.

Está soleado.

"It's sunny."

Está soleado.

Está nublado.

"It's cloudy."

Está nublado.

Está húmedo en Veracruz.

"It's humid in Veracruz."

Está húmedo en Veracruz.

Did you notice how the last speaker added the location in this last sentence?

Está húmedo en Veracruz.

"It’s humid in Veracruz."

First is Está, "It’s." Está.

Next is húmedo, “humid.” Húmedo. Húmedo.

After this is en Veracruz, "in Veracruz." En Veracruz.

First is en, meaning "in." En. En.

Next is the location, in this case, Veracruz. Veracruz.

All together, it's Está húmedo en Veracruz. "It's humid in Veracruz."

The pattern is

Está WEATHER CONDITION en LOCATION.

To use this pattern, simply replace the WEATHER CONDITION placeholder with a suitable weather condition, and the LOCATION placeholder with your current location.

Note, this pattern requires an appropriate word conjugated as a present participle for the weather condition and the name of a city, village or town.

You should be aware of this pattern, but for this lesson, we won't use locations.

Let’s review the key vocabulary.

Nevar. "To snow."

Nevar.

Nevando.

"Snowing."

Nevando.

Soleado.

"Sunny."

Soleado.

Nublado.

"Cloudy."

Nublado.

Let's review.

Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation.

Ready?

Do you remember how to say "raining?"

Lloviendo.

Do you remember how Valeria Varela says,

"It’s raining."

Está lloviendo.

Do you remember how to say "weather?"

Clima.

And how to say "the weather?"

El clima.

Do you remember the word for "how?"

Cómo.

Do you remember how Maria Avila asks,

"How is the weather?"

¿Cómo está el clima?

Do you remember how to say "snowing?"

Nevando.

And how to say "sunny?"

Soleado.

Do you remember the word for "cloudy?"

Nublado.

Let's practice.

Imagine you're Valeria Varela , and it’s cloudy, or nublado.

Respond to the question.

Ready?

¿Cómo está el clima?

Está nublado.

Listen again and repeat.

Está nublado.

Let’s try another.

Imagine you're María Ávila Cruz , and it's sunny, or soleado.

Ready?

¿Cómo está el clima?

Está soleado.

Listen again and repeat.

Está soleado.

Let’s try one more.

Imagine you’re Angel Salazar , and it’s snowing, or nevando.

Ready?

¿Cómo está el clima?

Está nevando.

Listen again and repeat.

Está nevando.

In this lesson, you learned how to talk about weather in Spanish. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of talking about the weather. Let’s review.

Do you remember how to say “hot,” literally "heat"?

calor

And how to say “so hot,” literally, “much heat"?

Mucho calor.

Do you remember how Valeria Varela says,

"It’s so hot!"

¡Hace mucho calor!

Imagine you're Jack Jones , and it's cold outside.

Do you remember how to say "cold" in Spanish?

frío

Now, tell your friend that it's cold.

¡Hace mucho frío!

Sí, ¿verdad?

Listen again and repeat.

¡Hace mucho frío!

On a different occasion you're traveling in the mountains and talking with your friend on the phone. Your friend asks how the weather is, and it's snowy.

Do you remember how to say "snowing" in Spanish?

nevando

Respond to your friend and say it's snowing.

¿Cómo está el clima?

Está nevando.

Listen again and repeat.

Está nevando.

Well done! This is the end of the lesson and the Can Talk About the Weather unit of this course.

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