TLE: Lesson - El tiempo
El tiempo
In Spanish, we translate weather as el clima or el tiempo. For example: El clima está terrible hoy (The weather is terrible today) or Espero que tengamos buen tiempo para el paseo (I hope we have good weather for the walk.) When having a conversation about the weather in Spanish, go with el clima. It’s the main expression and easy to remember.
El tiempo vs. El clima - What's the difference?
By the way, the word el tiempo has a lot of different meanings in Spanish: from “time” or “weather” to “tempo” or “grammar tense.” In our weather context, el tiempo is used to emphasize the relation between seasons, time, and weather. On the other hand, el clima (think about “climate” in English) can be used to describe both current weather and the general weather of an area.
Practicing Talking about the Weather in Spanish
Take a minute to look out the window and observe the weather. Can you say the current weather in Spanish? A great idea to practice the weather in Spanish is to keep a daily weather journal entry in Spanish. You can also use your personal devices such as cell phone- iPad or computer. Go to settings, set the language to Spanish, and check the weather in Spanish each day. Invite your friends and family to do this practice for 30 days, and try to say the weather together in Spanish each day.
Video Lesson
Watch the video below about el clima.
The purpose of this video lesson is for you to understand more about weather in Spanish.
Feel free to press pause and repeat and take notes.
Reminder: the speaker in this video uses a regional pronunciation of the Spanish LL sound. In our previous lesson, we learned that LL makes a y sound in Spanish: me llamo = me yamo. However, in some regional dialects of Spanish, the LL sound makes a sound closer to the English J sound: me llamo = me jamo. The narrator in the following video uses this alternate pronunciation. For our course, you are expected to use the standard y pronunciation for LL.
Video credit: Innovative Language. mobileapps@innovativelanguage.com
Common Weather Terms - Repaso (review)
Before moving to the practice activity below, review the following weather terms from the video.
- Nevado - Snowy
- Lluvioso - Rainy
- Soleado - Sunny
- Nublado - Cloudy
- Despejado - Clear skies
- Lluvia - Rain
- Sol - Sun
- Está lloviendo - It is rainy
- El clima - The weather
- El día - The day
- La mañana - The morning
- La tarde - The afternoon
- La noche - The night
- ¿Cómo está el tiempo? - How’s the weather?
- ¿Cómo está el tiempo hoy? - How’s the weather today?
- Nevado en la mañana - Snowy in the morning
- Lluvioso en la tarde - Rainy in the afternoon
- Nublado en la mañana - Cloudy in the morning
- Soleado en la mañana - Sunny in the morning
Practice Activity
It's now time to practice what you've learned.
Complete the following practice activity. Be sure you do not forget to use correct end punctuation, capitalization, accents, and all diacritical marks in your response or points will be deducted.
NOTE: You are required to use information from this course to complete all practice activities. Additionally, fill-in-the-blank activities can be very particular: if an item is marked incorrect, double check that it wasn't something as minor as an extra space or a capital letter in the wrong place!
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