French Vocabulary
French Weather Vocabulary
Mar
Knowing how to talk about the weather in French is essential to obtaining French fluency. After all, the weather is something that affects us day in and day out so it’s easy to see why it’s so important.
Fortunately, talking about the weather in French is very easy and is mostly just a matter of learning the correct vocabulary. In guide you’ll find all of the vocabulary that you’ll need in order to talk about the weather in French.
Let’s first go over the different ways to actually way “weather” and when they are used in conversation.
le temps – the weather (used to talk about the weather itself)
la météo – the weather forecast (used to talk about the weather report that you would typically see on TV)
Now let’s look at the different vocabulary that you can use to describe the weather. Most ways to describe the weather start with the words Il fait + the word describing the weather.
Il fait beau – It’s nice out
Il fait froid – It’s cold out
Il fait chaud – It’s hot out
Il fait frais – It’s cool out
Il fait mauvais – The weather is bad
Il fait orageux – It’s stormy
Il fait lourd – It’s muggy out
Il fait humide – It’s humid out
Il fait nuageux – It’s cloudy out
*Il fait du soleil – It’s sunny out
*Il fait du brouillard – It’s foggy out
*Il fait du vent – It’s windy out
* French textbooks often present these three as correct and although they likely are, native French speakers will often strongly disagree. In order to avoid any conflict you can use the terms below which are much more commonly used.
Il y a du soleil – It’s sunny out
Il y a du brouillard – It’s foggy out
Il y a du vent – It’s windy out
Let’s finish off this guide with a list of other weather-related terms in French.
Il pleut – It’s raining
Il pleut à torrents / Il pleut à verse – It’s pouring
Il pleut des cordes / Il tombe des cordes – It’s raining cats and dogs
Il neige – It’s snowing
Il gèle / C’est glacé / C’est gelé – It’s freezing
le tonnerre – thunder
la foudre – lightning
la grêle/grêler – hail/to hail
la pluie verglaçante – freezing rain
le givre – frost
Une tempête de neige – snowstorm
How to tell the temperature in French
Telling the temperature in French couldn’t be easier. All you have to do is say « Il fait __ degrés ».
Il fait 20 degrés – It’s 20 degrees out
Il faisait 10 degrés hier – It was 10 degrees out yesterday
What other weather-related French terms do you know? Comment below and tell us about them!
