Thursday, November 3, 2011

Let's talk about the weather

In English, the weather simply is, but in French, whether it be hot or cold, the weather is made.

Who makes it? Why, it is our lovely "He", the unspecified third person pronoun.

I may sound like I'm preaching, but I'm only referring to the act of using the verb faire (to make) in third person to describe the surrounding weather conditions.

Take the following examples:


Il fait froid
it makes cold
It’s cold
Il fait chaud
it makes heat
It’s hot
Il fait moins trente
it makes minus thirty
It’s minus thirty
Il fait frais
it makes cool
It is cool
Il fait beau
it makes pretty
It’s nice
Il fait nuageux
it makes cloudy
It’s cloudy


Precipitation is different, and gets its own verb. 

Il pleut
it rains
It’s raining
Il neige
it snows
It’s snowing
Il grêle
it hails
It's hailing

Mind you, these are general weather conditions. If you are referring to a specific aspect of the weather, you would state that there is such a thing outside, in the same way that you would state there is a bank at the end of the street. 


Il y a de la neige
There is snow
Il y a des nuages
There are clouds
Il y a un orage
There is a storm
Il y a un tremblement de terre
There is an earthquake
Il y a une tornade
There is a tornado
Il y a des éclairs
There is lightning


Your challenge:

  1. Write up the weather forecast for today
  2. Frown upon #1 and describe the weather forecast you would rather have.

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