Spanish weather words: how to talk about el tiempo
Spanish usually describes the weather with the verb hacer: hace sol (it
is sunny), hace calor (it is hot), hace frío (it is cold) and hace viento
(it is windy). For the sky it switches to estar — está nublado (it is
cloudy) — and for rain and snow it uses a weather verb on its own: llueve
(it is raining), nieva (it is snowing). So Spanish does not lean on “to be”
the way English does.
To ask about the weather, say ¿Qué tiempo hace? — literally “what weather does it make?”. Below are the everyday weather and season words with audio, then the sections explain when to reach for hace, está or a verb.
| Word | Transcription | Translation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| tiempo | /ˈtjempo/ | weather | El tiempo está bonito y muy cálido.The weather is nice and very warm. |
| sol | /sol/ | sun | El sol está brillante y cálido hoy.The sun is bright and warm today. |
| lluvia | /ˈʝuβja/ | rain | La lluvia es fuerte y ruidosa.The rain is heavy and loud. |
| nieve | /ˈnjeβe/ | snow | La nieve es blanca y suave.The snow is white and soft. |
| viento | /ˈbjento/ | wind | El viento es fuerte y muy frío.The wind is strong and very cold. |
| nublado | /nuˈβlaðo/ | cloudy | Está nublado hoy sin sol.It is cloudy today with no sun. |
| primavera | /pɾimaˈβeɾa/ | spring | Estornudo en primavera por las flores.I sneeze in spring from flowers. |
| verano | /beˈɾano/ | summer | Un verano caluroso está aquí.A hot summer is here. |
| otoño | /oˈtoɲo/ | autumn | El otoño es fresco y muy colorido.Autumn is cool and very colorful. |
| invierno | /imˈbjeɾno/ | winter | La nieve cae en invierno sobre el suelo.Snow falls in winter on the ground. |
| hace calor | it is hot | En agosto hace mucho calor. | |
| hace frío | it is cold | Hace frío, ponte el abrigo. | |
| llover | to rain | Va a llover esta tarde. | |
| nevar | to snow | En invierno nieva en la montaña. |
Once you know the nouns, the trick is matching each one to the right pattern. Three patterns cover almost everything you will want to say about el tiempo, and this table lines them up side by side.
| Pattern | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
hacer + noun |
most weather: sun, heat, cold, wind | Hace sol / calor / frío / viento.It is sunny / hot / cold / windy. |
estar + adjective |
the state of the sky | Está nublado.It is cloudy. |
| weather verb | rain and snow | Llueve. / Nieva.It is raining. / It is snowing. |
Hace: the default weather verb
For sun, heat, cold and wind, Spanish says hace plus a noun. It also wraps up
the general weather with hace buen tiempo (the weather is nice) and hace mal
tiempo (the weather is bad).
Hoy hace sol y hace calor.
Today it is sunny and hot.En el desierto hace mucho viento por la tarde.
In the desert it is very windy in the afternoon.Hace buen tiempo para pasear.
The weather is nice for a walk.
Está and the weather verbs
The sky and clouds take estar: está nublado (it is cloudy) and está
despejado (it is clear). Choosing está here is the same estar you sort out
in ser vs estar — a state right now, not a defining
trait. Rain and snow, by contrast, are their own verbs: llueve from llover,
nieva from nevar.
El cielo está nublado y va a llover.
The sky is cloudy and it is going to rain.Hoy está despejado, no hay nubes.
Today it is clear, there are no clouds.Cuando hace mucho frío, nieva en la montaña.
When it is very cold, it snows in the mountains.
The seasons
The four seasons are la primavera (spring), el verano (summer), el otoño
(autumn) and el invierno (winter). To say “in” a season, use en with no
article: en verano, en invierno.
En primavera llueve y hace buen tiempo.
In spring it rains and the weather is nice.En verano hace calor y en invierno hace frío.
In summer it is hot and in winter it is cold.El otoño es mi estación favorita.
Autumn is my favorite season.
Common mistakes
Using ser or estar for hot and cold weather
Hot and cold weather take hacer, not ser or estar. Caliente describes
the temperature of an object (agua caliente), and está calor is simply not
Spanish.
Está calor hoy.→ Hace calor hoy.
It is hot today.
Confusing tengo calor with hace calor
The weather uses hacer, but how a person feels uses tener. Hace calor
means “it (the weather) is hot”; tengo calor means “I feel hot”. The same
split works for cold: hace frío vs tengo frío.
Yo hace calor.→ Tengo calor.
I am hot.
Saying está lluvioso instead of llueve
For “it’s raining”, Spanish prefers the verb llueve (or está lloviendo).
Está lluvioso (“it is rainy”) is grammatical but sounds unnatural for the
weather right now.
Está lluvioso.→ Llueve.
It is raining.
In Fluera you say what the weather is like in short daily sentences — ¿qué tiempo hace?, hace sol, está nublado — and hear each phrase out loud, so the hace / está / verb split becomes a habit instead of a chart you recite. Turn it into a daily line when you practice Spanish and describe el tiempo in your own words.
Practice
Question 1 of 10
Frequently asked questions
How do you ask about the weather in Spanish?
Why is it "hace calor" and not "es/está caliente"?
hacer, so it is hace calor, literally "it makes heat". Caliente is for the temperature of an object, as in agua caliente (hot water), and está calor is not used at all.