Welcome to Can-Do French by FrenchPod101.com. |
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about weather conditions in French. |
For example, "It's nice weather." is |
Il fait beau. |
Constance Collin is in sunny Paris. |
She’s on a long-distance call with Mathilde Martin , her former colleague, who asks about the weather. |
Before you hear their conversation, let's preview some of its key components. |
temps |
"weather" |
temps |
temps |
beau |
"nice" |
beau |
beau |
Listen to the conversation, and focus on the response. |
Ready? |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Il fait beau. |
Once more with the English translation. |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
"How’s the weather?" |
Il fait beau. |
"It's nice weather." |
Let's break down the conversation. |
Do you remember how Mathilde asks, |
"How’s the weather?" |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Let’s start with the word temps, meaning "weather." Temps. Temps. |
In French, all nouns have grammatical gender and are either singular or plural. Temps is masculine and singular — a fact which will determine the form of other words in the sentence. |
Before temps is quel. "What." Quel. Quel. |
Quel is masculine and singular to agree with temps. |
Together, it’s Quel temps, "What weather." Quel temps. |
Next is fait-il, literally, "makes it," but translates as "is it," in this context. fait-il. |
First is fait, translating as "is," in this context. Fait. Fait. |
Note: fait is from the verb faire, meaning "to do," or "to make," but in this instance, when talking about the weather, it translates as "to be." Faire. |
After fait is the subject pronoun, il. Translating as, "It," in this context. Il. Il. |
Notice the word order when asking a question: verb, "fait," followed by the subject, "il." “fait-il.” |
When this inverted word order occurs in French, there must be a hyphen between the verb and the subject, as in fait-il. |
All together, it’s Quel temps fait-il? Literally, "what weather makes it?" but translates as, "How's the weather?" |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Pronunciation note: notice the rising intonation indicating a question. |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Let’s take a closer look at the response. |
Do you remember how Constance says, |
"It's nice weather?" |
Il fait beau. |
First is Il. "It." Il. Il. |
Next is fait. Translating as "Is," in this context. Fait.. Fait. |
Last is beau, "beautiful," or "nice," as in nice weather. Beau.. Beau. |
All together, it’s Il fait beau. literally, "It does nice weather," but it translates as "It's nice weather." |
Il fait beau. |
The pattern is |
Il fait WEATHER CONDITION. |
It is WEATHER CONDITION. |
Il fait WEATHER CONDITION. |
To use this pattern, simply replace the WEATHER CONDITION placeholder with a suitable adjective. |
In this lesson, you'll learn adjectives related to the weather that you can use with this pattern. |
Imagine it's “bad weather,” mauvais. Mauvais. Mauvais. |
Say |
"It's bad weather." |
Ready? |
Il fait mauvais. |
"It's bad weather." |
Il fait mauvais. |
In French, you can’t use any adjective with the construction, il fait. It’s restricted to a small set of adjectives, such as the adjectives covered in this lesson and some others: |
Chaud, “hot,” froid, “cold,” “frais,” cool, lourd, “heavy, sultry,” gris, “gray.” |
When talking about the weather, it’s common to use some impersonal verbs in French. Impersonal verbs are verbs without a fully stated subject, and which are conjugated in the third person singular. |
For example,"It’s raining" in French is Il pleut. |
Il pleut, literally, "It rains," but translates as "It’s raining." Il pleut. |
First is il. "It." Il. Il. |
Next is pleut, "rains," as in "It rains." pleut. |
Pleut is from the verb, pleuvoir, "to rain." Pleuvoir. |
Together, Il pleut. Literally, “It rains,” but it translates as, "It’s raining." Il pleut. |
Pay attention. You’ll see another example of this pattern shortly. |
Again, the key pattern is |
Il fait WEATHER CONDITION. |
It is WEATHER CONDITION. |
Il fait WEATHER CONDITION. |
Let's look at some examples. |
Listen and repeat or speak along with the native speakers. |
Il fait beau. |
"It's nice weather." |
Il fait beau. |
Il fait froid. |
"It's cold." |
Il fait froid. |
Il fait chaud. |
"It's hot." |
Il fait chaud. |
Il pleut. |
"It's raining." |
Il pleut. |
Il neige. |
"It's snowing." |
Il neige. |
Did you notice how the last speaker uses a different pattern? |
Il neige. |
"It’s snowing." |
Literally it means "It snows," but translates as "It’s snowing." Il neige. Il neige. |
First is il. "It." Il. Il. |
Next is neige, "snows," as in "It snows." neige. |
Neige is from the verb, Neiger, "to snow." Neiger. |
Together, Il neige. "It’s snowing." Il neige. |
Let's review the key words. |
Froid. "Cold." Froid. Froid. |
Chaud. "Hot." Chaud. Chaud. |
Pleuvoir. “To rain.” Pleuvoir. Pleuvoir |
Il pleut. "It’s raining." Il pleut. Il pleut. |
Neiger. “To snow.” Neiger. Neiger. |
Il neige. "It’s snowing." Il neige. Il neige. |
Let's review. |
Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
Ready? |
Do you remember how to say "nice," as in "nice weather?" |
Beau. |
Beau. |
Do you remember how Constance Collin says, |
"It’s nice weather?" |
Il fait beau. |
Il fait beau. |
Do you remember how to say "weather?" |
Temps. |
Temps. |
And how to say "what?" |
Quel. |
Quel. |
Do you remember how Mathilde asks, |
"How's the weather?" |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Do you remember how to say |
"It’s raining." |
Il pleut. |
Il pleut. |
Do you remember how to say "cold?" |
Froid. |
Froid. |
Do you remember how to say "hot?" |
Chaud. |
Chaud. |
Let's practice. |
Imagine you’re Constance Collin , and it’s raining, or pleut. |
Respond to the question. |
Ready? |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Il pleut. |
Listen again and repeat. |
Il pleut. |
Il pleut. |
Let’s try another. |
Imagine you’re Mathilde , and it’s hot, or chaud. |
Ready? |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Il fait chaud. |
Listen again and repeat. |
Il fait chaud. |
Il fait chaud. |
Let’s try one more. |
Imagine you’re Hugues Henry , and it’s cold, or froid. |
Ready? |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Il fait froid. |
Listen again and repeat. |
Il fait froid. |
Il fait froid. |
In this lesson, you learned how to talk about weather in French. This plays an essential role in the larger skill of talking about the weather. Let’s review. |
Do you remember how to say "hot?" |
Chaud. |
Chaud. |
And how to say "today?" |
Aujourd'hui. |
Aujourd'hui. |
Do you remember how to say, |
"It’s hot today." |
Il fait chaud aujourd'hui. |
Il fait chaud aujourd'hui. |
Do you remember how to say, |
"Yes, indeed." |
Oui, en effet. |
Oui, en effet. |
Imagine you're Jack Jones , and it's cold outside. |
Do you remember how to say "cold" in French? |
froid |
froid |
Now, tell your friend that it's cold. |
Il fait froid aujourd'hui. |
Oui, en effet. |
Listen again and repeat. |
Il fait froid aujourd'hui. |
Il fait froid aujourd'hui. |
On a different occasion you're traveling in Alsace and talking with your friend on the phone. Your friend asks how the weather is, and it's snowy. |
Do you remember how to say "snowing" in French? |
neige |
neige |
Respond to your friend and say it's snowing. |
Quel temps fait-il ? |
Il neige. |
Listen again and repeat. |
Il neige. |
Il neige. |
Well done! This is the end of the lesson and the Can Talk About the Weather unit of this course. |
Remember, these Can Do lessons are about learning practical language skills. |
What's next? |
Show us what you can do. |
When you're ready, take your assessment. |
You can take it again and again, so try anytime you like. |
Our teachers will assess it, and give you your results. |
Keep practicing — and move on to the next lesson! |
Comments
Hide