The four seasons

A year has four seasons: la primavera (spring), el verano (summer), el otoño (autumn) and el invierno (winter).

Asking about the weather

The question is short: qué tiempo hace? By the way, el tiempo can mean two things: "time" and "weather". Here it means weather.

Weather with hacer

Most weather statements use hacer: hace frío (it's cold), hace calor (it's hot), hace sol (it's sunny), hace viento (it's windy), hace buen tiempo (the weather is nice), hace mal tiempo (the weather is bad). These are simply fixed expressions – best to just learn them as they are.

Rain and snow

Rain and snow have their own verbs: llover and nevar. In everyday use you'll mostly need just one form of each: llueve (it's raining) and nieva (it's snowing).

Cloudy skies

When the sky is full of clouds, you say está nublado (it's cloudy).

Important: hace calor vs. caliente

For the weather you use hace calor/hace frío. But when talking about a specific thing, you use caliente (hot/warm) or frío (cold) directly with estar: El café está caliente. El agua está fría.

More weather and nature words

Along with these come la lluvia (rain), la nieve (snow), el sol (the sun), el viento (the wind), la nube (the cloud), el cielo (the sky) and la tormenta (the storm): Necesito el paraguas porque llueve. (I need the umbrella because it's raining.)

In the sky you also see la luna (the moon) and la estrella (the star): Por la noche se ven la luna y las estrellas. And when the sun goes down, that's la puesta de sol: Me gusta ver la puesta de sol. When it's very sunny, la sombrilla (the parasol) helps.

Examples

  • Hace frío.
  • Hace calor.
  • Llueve.
  • El café está caliente.

Exercises

A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 1 of 13

Picture memory: seasons and weather

Find the matching pairs.

Match each picture with the correct Spanish word.

A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 2 of 13

Weather expressions with hacer

Match each expression with its correct meaning.

The most important weather expressions with hacer.

A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 3 of 13

Weather with hacer in context

Choose the right weather expression.

En invierno .
En verano .
Hoy hay mucho sol: .
Hoy hay mucho viento: .
A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 4 of 13

llueve, nieva or está nublado?

Choose the right word.

Hoy mucho.
En invierno mucho.
El cielo está gris: .
A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 5 of 13

Sun, rain, snow, wind or clouds?

Sort each word into the matching group.

Which weather phenomenon does each word belong to?

el sol
hace sol
la puesta de sol
la lluvia
llueve
el paraguas
llover
la nieve
nieva
nevar
el viento
hace viento
la nube
está nublado

Sun

Rain

Snow

Wind

Clouds

A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 6 of 13

¿Qué tiempo hace? – a short dialogue

Choose the right word for each gap.

¿Qué tiempo ?
calor y sol.
¿Y en invierno?
frío y a veces nieva.
A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 7 of 13

Listening: simple weather statements

Listen to the expression and choose the correct meaning.

Recognise the spoken weather expression.

0 / 4

A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 8 of 13

More nature and everyday words

Match each word with its correct meaning.

Vocabulary about the sky and the weather.

A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 9 of 13

hace calor or caliente?

Choose the right word.

Hoy mucho calor.
El café está , ten cuidado.
A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 10 of 13

True or false?

Sort the statements.

A small review: seasons and weather.

En verano hace calor.
En invierno normalmente hace mucho calor.
Cuando llueve, usamos el paraguas.
En verano nieva mucho.
El otoño viene después del verano.
Cuando está nublado, hace mucho sol.

True

False

A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 11 of 13

Seasons and weather in everyday life

Choose the right word for each gap.

En hace frío y a veces nieva.
En hace calor y vamos a la playa.
Cuando , uso el paraguas.
Hoy está nublado, no hace .
A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 12 of 13

Flashcards: seasons and weather

Look at the meaning and think of the matching Spanish word before revealing the solution.

Review the seasons-and-weather vocabulary

springla primavera
summerel verano
autumnel otoño
winterel invierno
to rainllover
to snownevar
to be cold (weather)hacer frío
to be hot (weather)hacer calor
to be sunnyhacer sol
to be windyhacer viento
the skyel cielo
the umbrellael paraguas
the sunel sol
the time/weatherel tiempo
the windel viento
the cloudla nube
the starla estrella
the moonla luna
the sunsetla puesta de sol
the parasolla sombrilla
the earthla tierra
the stormla tormenta
the rainla lluvia
the snowla nieve
the heat/warmthel calor
the weather is nicehace buen tiempo
the weather is badhace mal tiempo
it's cloudyestá nublado
what's the weather likequé tiempo hace
it's rainingllueve
it's snowingnieva
hot/warmcaliente
coldfrío
A1VocabularySeasons and weather

Exercise 13 of 13

Flashcards: write the words

Read the meaning, write the Spanish word and check your answer.

Write the seasons-and-weather vocabulary

springla primavera
summerel verano
autumnel otoño
winterel invierno
to rainllover
to snownevar
to be cold (weather)hacer frío
to be hot (weather)hacer calor
to be sunnyhacer sol
to be windyhacer viento
the skyel cielo
the umbrellael paraguas
the sunel sol
the time/weatherel tiempo
the windel viento
the cloudla nube
the starla estrella
the moonla luna
the sunsetla puesta de sol
the parasolla sombrilla
the earthla tierra
the stormla tormenta
the rainla lluvia
the snowla nieve
the heat/warmthel calor
the weather is nicehace buen tiempo
the weather is badhace mal tiempo
it's cloudyestá nublado
what's the weather likequé tiempo hace
it's rainingllueve
it's snowingnieva
hot/warmcaliente
coldfrío