By the end of this lesson you'll be able to ask about the weather, describe it, and name the four seasons.
Faire does the weather
In the lesson on faire and aller you learned the forms of faire. Most descriptions of the weather start with il fait. As with telling the time, il doesn't refer to anyone here. It means "it".
To ask about it, you need only one question.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Quel temps fait-il ? | kel tahn feh-TEEL | What's the weather like?Everyday version: Il fait quel temps ? |
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Il fait beau. | eel feh BOH | The weather's nice. |
| Il fait mauvais. | eel feh moh-VEH | The weather's bad. |
| Il fait chaud. | eel feh SHOH | It's hot. |
| Il fait froid. | eel feh FRWAH | It's cold. |
| Il fait vingt degrés. | eel feh van duh-GRAY | It's twenty degrees. |
Describing words after il fait don't change. They're always in the basic masculine form, because they aren't describing anybody.
Il fait mauvais à Brest.
The weather's bad in Brest.
Aujourd'hui, il fait trente degrés !
It's thirty degrees today!
Rain and snow
Two kinds of weather have verbs of their own, so you don't use fait with them.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Il pleut. | eel PLUH | It's raining. |
| Il neige. | eel NEZH | It's snowing. |
Il pleut and il neige can mean "it's raining" or "it rains", just as other French verbs cover both.
Il pleut en novembre.
It rains in November.
Sun, wind and cloud
For these, French uses il y a (there is, there are) with a noun. For now, learn them as whole phrases. You'll see why it's du and des in the lesson on du, de la and des.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Il y a du soleil. | eel-yah dew soh-LAY | It's sunny.Fixed phrase for now. |
| Il y a du vent. | eel-yah dew VAHN | It's windy.Fixed phrase for now. |
| Il y a des nuages. | eel-yah day new-AHZH | It's cloudy.Fixed phrase for now. |
Il y a du soleil, mais il fait froid.
It's sunny, but it's cold.
The four seasons
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| la saison | lah seh-ZOHN | the season |
| le printemps | luh pran-TAHN | springau printemps (in spring) |
| l'été | lay-TAY | summeren été (in summer) |
| l'automne | loh-TONN | autumnen automne (in autumn) |
| l'hiver | lee-VEHR | winteren hiver (in winter) |
To say "in" a season, use en, as you do with months from the lesson on days, months and dates: en été, en automne, en hiver. The one exception is spring, which takes au: au printemps. Été, automne and hiver all begin with a vowel sound, and printemps begins with a consonant.
The four seasons are all masculine.
Au printemps, il fait beau à Paris.
In spring, the weather's nice in Paris.
En hiver, il neige à Chamonix.
In winter, it snows in Chamonix.
Weather or you?
Il fait chaud describes the weather outside. If you want to say how you feel, use avoir, as you may remember from the lesson on avoir.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| J'ai chaud. / J'ai froid. | zhay SHOH / zhay FRWAH | I'm hot. / I'm cold. (how you feel) |
Putting it together
Here's a short phone call between two friends in different towns.
- Allô ! Il fait quel temps à Nice ? (Hello! What's the weather like in Nice?)
- Il fait beau, il y a du soleil. Et à Lille ? (It's nice, it's sunny. And in Lille?)
- Il pleut, et il fait froid. (It's raining, and it's cold.)
Now try matching the weather to the months you already know. Pick a month and describe a typical day where you live: En juillet, il fait chaud or En décembre, il pleut. If you can, add a temperature. French weather reports use degrees Celsius, so twenty degrees is pleasantly warm, and thirty degrees is hot. Talking about the weather is an easy way to start a conversation, and now you have the words for it.
What's next
Next, the review of this unit combines the weather with hobbies and questions, in the form of an interview. After that, food and shopping begin with the lesson on food and drink.