What's the weather? In this lesson, we'll explore the verbs used to talk about weather in Spanish.
There are three verbs you should use when talking about the weather. The first one is hacer (to do, to make), the second one is estar(to be), and the third one is haber (to have). Hacer is largely used to describe the general “feel” or “sensation” of the weather, while estar and haber are more specific.
Even though it may not make much sense in English, it’s common to talk about lo que el clima hace (what the weather does) in Spanish. And in this case, you will use the verb hacer. As a general rule, you can pair the verb hacer with descriptive words about what the weather feels like.
Ejemplos adicionales:
Hace frío. - It’s cold.
Hace sol. - It’s sunny.
Hace viento. - It’s windy.
Hace calor. - It’s hot.
Hace fresco. - It’s cool.
Hace buen tiempo. - The weather is nice.
Hace mal tiempo. - The weather is bad.
On the other hand, we use estar (in the third-person form, está) to talk about how the weather is. Specifically, how the weather is right now. Here are some useful examples:
Está soleado - It’s sunny.
Está lloviendo - It’s raining.
Está nevando - It’s snowing.
The verb can be used both with adjectives and verbs to describe the weather.
Ejemplos adicionales:
Está nublado. - It’s cloudy.
Está frío. - It’s cold.
Está soleado. - It’s sunny.
Está despejado. - It’s clear.
Está tormentoso. - It’s stormy.
Está lloviendo/lluvioso. - It’s raining/rainy.
Está húmedo. - It’s humid.
Está nevando. - It’s snowing.
Está oscuro. - It’s dark.
Está caluroso. - It’s hot.
The verb haber, in its most common form hay, is used to indicate that there is some kind of interesting (or not) weather. You should use haber when answering the question “How is the weather over there?” Let’s take some examples:
Hay neblina en la carretera. - The road is foggy/There is fog on the road.
Hay viento. - It’s windy/There is wind.
Hay nieve en las montañas. - There is snow in the mountains.
In this context, haber is typically paired with a weather-related noun.
Ejemplos adicionales:
Hay nubes. - It’s cloudy.
Hay viento. - It’s windy.
Hay tormenta. - It’s stormy.
Hay humedad. - It’s humid.
Hay niebla. - It’s foggy.
Hay granizo. - It’s hailing.
Hay relámpagos. - It’s lightning.
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.
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