The easiest way to get a conversation going is to talk about the weather. Become accustomed to using these expressions.
Quel temps fait-il aujourd'hui? What's the weather today?
Il fait beau. It is nice.
Il fait mauvais. The weather is bad.
Il fait chaud. It is warm.
Il y a du vent. It's windy.
Il pleut. It's raining.
Il fait froid. It is cold.
Il neige. It's snowing.
Il fait soleil. It is sunny.
Il fait couvert. It is cloudy.
Il fait lourd. It is close.
Il grele. It is hailing.
Il gele. It freezes.
Il degele. Its is thawing.
Il tonne. It is thundering.
Il y a de l'orage. There is a storm
Il y a des eclairs. There is lightening.
Quand le ciel est bleu, il fait du soleil-il fait beau temps. When the sky is blue, it is sunny- the weather is nice.
Quand le ciel est gris, it est couvert de nuages-il fait mauvais temps. When the sky is grey, it is covered with clouds- it is bad weather.
A Paris, il pleut quelquefois. In Paris, it rains sometimes.
A Cote d'Azur, il pleu rarement; il fait generalement beau. On the Cote d'Azur, it rarely rains; it is generally good weather.
Normally, we use “faire” (il fait, or past tense il faisait) for the weather: Il fait mauvais ,il fait chaud. However, to rain, to snow, to hail, to freeze, thaw and to thunder are verbs in their own right, and are used alone.
Some other weather to be concerned about:
La brume. Haze, mist.
La pluie. Rain.
La neige. Snow
Le brouillard. Fog
Can you have a conversation about the seasons?
Robert, quelle saison aimez-vous le mieux? Robert, which season do you like the best?
J'aime bien l'hiver quand il neige et on peut faire du ski. I like the winter,when it snows and one can ski.
J'aime bien l'ete, parce qu'il y a de belles fleurs. I like the summer when there are beautiful flowers.
What else do we want to know about meteorology (le meteo)?
Le matin, le soleil se leve. Le soir, le soleil se couche. In the morning the sun rises. In the evening, the sun sets.
Le soleil se leve a l'est. Le soleil se couche a l'ouest. The sun rises in the east. The sun sets in the west.
Pendant le jour, le soleil est dan le ciel. During the day, the sun is in the sky.
Pendant la nuit le soleil n'est pas visible, mais nous pouvons voir la lune et les etoiles. During the night, the sun is not visible, but we can see the moon and the stars.
En ete, le soleil se leve de bonne heure. In summer, the sun rises early.
En hiver, le soleil se leve tard. In winter, the sun rises late.
Don't forget that in Europe they use the Centrigrade thermometer. To convert Fahrenheit degrees to Centigrade, subtract 32 and multiply by 5/9ths. For example, 50 degrees F. =(50-32)x5/9=10 degrees C.
To convert Centrigrade degrees to Fahrenheit, multiply by 5/9ths and add 32. For example, 5 degrees C. =(5x5/9+32)=41 degrees F.
What Did We Learn?
Today it is raining.
Tomorrow it will be nice. (You use the present tense, even though it is tomorrow.)
It is hot today; it is 30 degrees C.
Yesterday (hier) it was very cold.
Pendant le ____, le soleil est dans le ____.
_______la nuit, le soleil n'est pas _______.
En ete, le ______ se leve __ _____ _____.
En _____, le soliel __ ____ tard.
What a day! First (d'abord), it snows, then (puis) it hails, then it rains!
If it snows tomorrow (demain) I'll go skiing.
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