It's December and you're on a video call with a friend in Buenos Aires. You're wearing a jumper; she's in a T-shirt with a fan behind her. "¿Qué tiempo hace allí?" she asks ("What's the weather like there?"). You say: "Hace frío." She laughs: "Aquí hace mucho calor. ¡Es verano!" Small talk about the weather works in every Spanish-speaking country, and most of it needs just three words: hace, está and hay.
Level: A1.
Asking about the weather
The standard question is ¿Qué tiempo hace? ("What's the weather like?"). El tiempo means weather here, but it also means time, so ¿Cuánto tiempo? asks "how long?". In much of Latin America you'll also hear ¿Cómo está el clima?, because el clima is often used for the day's weather there, not only for climate.
Hace: weather you can feel
Most weather in Spanish uses hacer, in the form hace ("it makes"):
- hace calor: it's hot
- hace frío: it's cold
- hace sol: it's sunny
- hace viento: it's windy
- hace fresco: it's cool, a bit chilly
- hace buen tiempo / hace mal tiempo: the weather's nice / bad
After hace, words like calor, frío, sol and viento are nouns. That's why "very" is mucho, not muy: hace mucho frío, hace mucho viento. Bueno and malo shorten before tiempo: buen tiempo, mal tiempo.
For temperature, say hace 25 grados or estamos a 25 grados (it's 25 degrees). Spain and most of Latin America measure in Celsius, so 25 grados is warm. Below freezing is bajo cero: hace cinco grados bajo cero.
Rain and snow: their own verbs
Rain and snow have verbs of their own, used only in the "it" form:
- llover (to rain): llueve (it rains), está lloviendo (it's raining right now)
- nevar (to snow): nieva (it snows), está nevando (it's snowing right now)
Both are stem changers: o becomes ue in llueve, e becomes ie in nieva. Use llueve for habits ("En abril llueve mucho") and está lloviendo for what's happening outside the window now.
Estar and hay: what the sky looks like
Adjectives describing the sky right now take estar:
- está nublado: it's cloudy
- está despejado: it's clear
- está soleado: it's sunny (an alternative to hace sol)
Things you can point to in the sky take hay (there is): hay tormenta (there's a storm), hay niebla (it's foggy), hay nubes (there are clouds).
The four seasons
Las estaciones del año are la primavera (spring), el verano (summer), el otoño (autumn, or fall in the US) and el invierno (winter). Like months and days, seasons take no capital letter. You can say en verano or en el verano; both are common.
Remember the map. In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay the seasons are the reverse of Spain's or Mexico's: en diciembre es verano and July is winter. Near the equator, temperature changes little through the year, so people often talk about rainy and dry seasons instead (la temporada de lluvias, la temporada seca). In some of these countries you may even hear the rainy season called invierno.
Mistakes learners make
- "Hace muy frío." Frío is a noun after hace, so say hace mucho frío.
- "Hace nublado." Nublado is an adjective, so it takes estar: está nublado.
- "Es lloviendo." What's happening right now uses estar: está lloviendo.
- "Hace frío" for yourself. Hace frío is the weather. If you're the one feeling cold, say tengo frío.
- "Otono." Keep the ñ: otoño.
Frequently asked questions
How do you ask what the weather is like in Spanish?
Say "¿Qué tiempo hace?" In much of Latin America "¿Cómo está el clima?" is also common.
Why does Spanish use hacer for weather?
Spanish uses hacer with no subject for weather: hace calor is literally "it makes heat". Rain and snow are the exceptions, with their own verbs: llueve, nieva.
What are the four seasons in Spanish?
La primavera (spring), el verano (summer), el otoño (autumn or fall) and el invierno (winter), all written without a capital letter.
Is it "hace mucho frío" or "hace muy frío"?
Hace mucho frío. After hace, frío is a noun, and "very" with a noun is mucho.
Try it
Look out of the window and describe the sky out loud: one sentence with hace, one with estar or hay. Then name your favourite season and say why. ¿Cómo se dice "It's cloudy and very cold, but I like winter"?