Climate and weather in Chinese - Lesson 20

In this online Chinese lesson, you will learn how to talk abouth the weather.

1. Vocabulary

This lesson consist of much new vocabulary. Take the time to learn them all befor getting immersed in the grammar and dialogues.

Words related to climate and weather

  Word Pinyin Translation  
1 天气 tiānqì weather
2 太阳 tàiyang sun
3 yún cloud
4 rain
5 下雨 xiàyǔ
to rain
6 xuě snow
7 下雪 xiàxuě to snow
8 guā to blow
9 fēng wind
10 lěng cold
11 hot
12 季节 jìjié season
13 冬天 dōngtiān winter
14 春天 chūntiān spring
15 夏天 xiàtiān summer
16 秋天 qiūtiān autumn ; fall
17 晴天 qíngtiān good weather
18 气温 qìwēn temperature
19 degree
20 预报 yùbào forecast (weather)
21 暖和 nuǎnhuo warm; mild
22 liáng cool

Other important words

  Word Pinyin Translation  
1 duō many
2 gāo high; large ; tall (height)
3 low
4 非常 fēicháng extremely
5 zhēn really; particularly
6 gèng more; even more
7 le (particle placed at the end of a sentence to indicate the past or the present progressive)
8 越来越 yuèláiyuè more and more
9 duǎn short; brief
10 不错 bùcuò not bad; pretty good; correct
11 compared to

2. Grammar

A. Comparisons with 比 ‹ bǐ ›

In Chinese, we can express comparisons of superiority or inferiority with the word ‹ bǐ › that translates into English as "compared to". To use it, the sentence structure is as follows :

N1 + + N2 + Adj.
CAUTION: about the size, we DO NOT USE ‹ dà › in Chinese to say "tall" BUT ‹ gāo › to speak about someone tall. To say "little" when talking about someone small, ‹ ǎi › will be used.

B. The superlative "most", "even more", "extremely", "very."

In Chinese grammar, the superlative is always used with the same sentence structure, whether it is a superlative of superiority like ‹ zuì ›an absolute superlative like 非常 ‹ fēicháng ›. In these sentences, the superlative precedes an adjective or sometimes a verb.

S + Superlative + Adj. / V

CAUTION: unlike English, there is no verb "to be" in sentences composed of a superlative. For example in Chinese we say 他最高 ‹ tā zuì gāo ›(literally "he, the tallest") and not 他是最高.

The superlative of superiority ‹ zuì › can be used to form nouns/subjects:

+ Adj. (+ ) + O

C. "More and more" with 越来越 ‹ yuèláiyuè

The use of the word 越来越 ‹ yuèláiyuè › to express "more and more" in Chinese is relatively simple:

S + 越来越 + Adj.

D. The particle 了 ‹ le › to indicate the present progressive

The particle ‹ le › at the end of a sentence can be used to indicate the past but also to form the present progressive or to express that an event has already started. More precisely in this lesson about climate, it is to express a change (of weather, temperature, ...).

Sentence +

E. Negative temperatures

To express a negative temperature in Chinese we use 零下 ‹ líng xià ›followed by the numeric value.

零下 + Val. Num. +

3. Dialogues

Dialogue N° 1

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- 天气怎么样? ‹ Tiānqì zěnmeyàng? ›
- 下雨了,有很多云。 ‹ Xià yǔ le, yǒu hěn duō yún. ›
- 有风吗? ‹ Yǒu fēng ma? ›
- 没有,但是有一点凉。 ‹ Méi yǒu dànshì yǒu yīdiǎn liáng. ›
- 天气预报说明天是晴天。 ‹ Tiānqì yùbào shuō míngtiān shì qíngtiān. ›

Translation :

- What is the weather like?
- It's raining, there are many clouds.
- Is there wind?
- No, but it's a bit chilly.
- The weather forecasts say that tomorrow will be a sunny day.

Dialogue N° 2

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- 这儿的夏天热不热? ‹ Zhèr de xiàtiān rè bù rè? ›
- 特别热。 Tèbié rè. ›
- 冬天怎么样? ‹ Dōngtiān zěnmeyàng? ›
- 很冷,风非常大。 ‹ Hěn lěng, fēng fēicháng dà. ›
- 春天和秋天呢? ‹ Chūntiān hé qiūtiān ne? ›
- 这两个季节天气都不错。春天很短,常刮大风。 最好的季节是秋天。 Zhè liǎng gè jìjié tiānqì dōu bùcuò. Chūntiān hěn duǎn, cháng guā dà fēng, zuì hǎo de jìjié shì qiūtiān. ›

Translation :

- Is the summer hot here?
- Particularly hot.
- How is the winter?
- Very cold and the wind is very strong.
- And spring and fall?
- These two seasons are quite good. Spring is short and there are often high winds. The best season is autumn.

Dialogue N° 3

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- 外边太阳很大, 冷不冷? Wàimiàn tàiyáng hěn dà, lěng bù lěng? ›
- 今天真冷!今天比昨天冷。 天气越来越冷了。 ‹ Jīntiān zhēn lěng! Jīntiān bǐ zuótiān lěng. Tiānqì yuèláiyuè lěngle. ›
- 真的吗?气温有多少度? ‹ Zhēnde ma? Qìwēn yǒu duōshǎo dù? ›
- 最高气温有3度. 最低气零下5度。 ‹ Zuì gāo qìwēn yǒu 3 dù. Zuì dī líng xià 5 dù. ›
- 天气预报说明天下雪,气温比今天更低。 ‹ Tiānqì yùbào shuō míngtiān xiàxuě, qìwēn bǐ jīntiān gèng dī. ›
- 法国的冬天比这儿的冬天暖和。 ‹ Fàguó de dōngtiān bǐ zhèr de dōngtiān nuǎnhuo. ›

Translation :

- The sun is shining outside; is it cold?
- Today it is particularly cold! It's colder than yesterday. The weather is becoming colder.
- Really? What is the temperature?
- The maximum temperature is 3°; the minimum temperature is -1 °.
- The weather forecasts say it will snow tomorrow; the temperature will be even lower than today.
- Winter in France is milder than here.

4. Exercise

Answer the following questions in Chinese and train yourself to talk about the weather:

1. 今天天气怎么样?昨天和明天呢?
2. 你的国家(country)的夏天怎么样?冬天冷不冷?春天和秋天呢?
3. 你最喜欢哪个季节?为什么呢?

- Chinese Gratis -