Talking about the Weather in Spanish: Verbs and Expressions

Hola, ¿Cómo está el clima donde vives? – EL CLIMA (the weather) and EL TIEMPO are two common ways to refer to the weather in Spanish. In this lesson, we will cover some very common weather expressions as well as some key verbs for talking about the weather in Spanish. Additionally, we will discuss a little about the future tense (el futuro) as it is often used to make weather predictions. Let’s start….

Introductory video: The weather in Spanish

The following video introduces the basic vocabulary to talk about the weather in Spanish. It explains how to make simple sentences with the verbs SER, ESTAR, HABER and HACE and others. Besides, we will introduce several essential phrases and questions to talk about the weather that you will see later in this lesson with more details.

Asking about the weather in Spanish

First of all, we will learn to ask that what the weather is like in Spanish. To do this we may use two simple questions: ¿Cómo está el clima? and ¿Qué tiempo hace? As shown in the picture below, the first question is commonly used in Latin America, whereas the second one is more frequent in Spain. Both ways to ask about the weather in Spanish are correct, but it is better to know which to use in each place. In order to answer these questions, we need to know Spanish weather expressions, which are often found in news reports and are normally used in conversations about this topic as well.

In general we use three verbs to talk about the weather in Spanish: HABER in its form HAY, ESTAR as ESTÁ and HACER as HACE. The picture below introduces some of these expressions as well as the two questions mentioned above. Please pay close attention to the words in dark pink as they will be used later in this lesson.

Talking about the Weather in Spanish: Verbs and Expressions — El clima/El tiempo en español

Talking about the weather in Spanish with the verb ESTAR

ESTAR is a very useful irregular verb in the language. This verb is for the most part used to talk about states or situations, e.g. “Estoy feliz” (I am happy). It is often part of common weather expressions in Spanish, often following this grammatical structure:

Sujeto + ESTAR (conjugado) + adjetivo + complemento (opcional)
e.g. El clima está nublado esta mañana / El clima estará ventoso esta semana

In the previous example, the verb ESTAR was used in the present tense in the first example (El clima está…) and in the future tense in the second one (estará). ESTAR will also be used to ask about the weather at a specific time or place as in ¿Cómo está el clima hoy? and ¿Cómo estará el clima en el norte del país? The examples below show how ESTAR can be used to talk about the weather in Spanish in the past (estuvo), present (está) and future tense (estará) to describe the weather. Sometimes ESTAR will be used as an auxiliary for the present progressive, a tense for actions in progress such as “Está lloviendo” (It is raining). Click on play to listen to the examples.

Examples about the weather in Spanish using ESTAR

El clima estuvo soleado la semana pasada.

The weather was sunny last week

Estuvimos en una ciudad con un clima bastante húmedo.

We were in a city with a very humid/muggy weather

¿Cómo está el clima?- El clima está nublado esta mañana.

What’s the weather like? – The weather is cloudy this morning

Esta ciudad está completamente nublada con humo.

This city is completely smoggy

Está nevando en el norte del país.

It is snowing in the north of the country

Una ola de calor está afectando nuestro país.

A heat wave is affecting our country (progressive tense)

Ellos están en la estación lluviosa justo ahora.

They are in the rainy season right now

El clima estará fresco mañana.

The weather will be cool tomorrow

El cielo estará despejado esta noche.

The sky will be clear tonight

Talking about the weather in Spanish with SER and HAY

SER + Spanish weather expressions

When we want to know what the weather is like in a place most days, then we will not ask using the verb ESTAR, but the other form of the verb to be: SER. That being said “¿Cómo está el clima en la ciudad? and “¿Cómo es el clima?” mean different things as ESTAR is for a day or part of it, whereas SER has a more permanent feeling and would be more useful when saying what the weather is like normally at a given season at a certain place. Since we will be usually referring to “El clima” (singular), then SER will be used in its form ES. Click on play to listen to the examples below.

¿Cómo es el clima en la ciudad? El clima es cálido.

What’s the weather like in the city? – It is warm

Diciembre es un mes con un clima frio.

December is a cold month

Mañana será un día caliente.

It will be a hot day tomorrow

HAY + Spanish weather expressions

HAY is an impersonal form of the verb HABER, which works just like THERE IS/THERE ARE in the English language. Basically, we can use HAY in the present, past or future tense for talking about the weather in Spanish too, especially to describe what the weather is like or will be, e.g. “Hay un clima nublado esta mañana” (in the present tense) or Hubo un clima ventoso ayer (in the past) and “Habrá una tormenta eléctrica mañana” (future tense). Here are a few more examples using HAY to talk about the weather:

Hay neblina en las calles.

There is fog in the streets

¿Cuál es el pronóstico del clima? – Habrá una tormenta eléctrica mañana.

What’s the weather forecast? – There will be a thunderstorm tomorrow

A few other important weather expressions in Spanish

Another common way to make weather expressions in Spanish is using HACE (from the verb hacer – to do) plus a weather condition like CALOR(heat), FRÍO (cold), VIENTO (wind) and so on to say things like “Hace calor “(It’s hot), “Hace mucho viento” (It’s very windy) or “Hace sol “(It’s sunny).

Perhaps you have already noticed that the future tense is really important to talk about the weather in Spanish too, particularly to make weather forecasts. HABER will change to both HABRÁ and HABRÁN, ESTAR will change to ESTARÁ and HACER will change to HARÁ. Here are some examples: “Habrá una tormenta mañana” (there will be a storm tomorrow), “El clima estará frío mañana” (It will be cold tomorrow) and “Hará bastante calor este verano” (This summer will be very hot). Other important verbs for talking about the weather in Spanish are “TENER” (to have), “CAER” (to fall), “LLEGAR” (to arrive) and “TRAER” (to bring). Here are a few more examples for you to read and listen about the weather.

¿Cuál es el pronóstico del clima? – Habrá una tormenta eléctrica mañana.

What’s the weather forecast? – There will be a thunderstorm tomorrow