French › Level one lessons › Weather · Le temps

Mireille: Il fait beau temps !^{It is fine weather !}
Monique: Il va pleuvoir aujourd'hui ?^{Is it going to rain today?}

Monique could also use the question form instead of the intonation given above:

• Est-ce qu'il va pleuvoir aujourd'hui ? (Pronounced eh-skeel)

or

• Va-t-il pleuvoir aujourd'hui ?

Mireille: Non, il ne va pas pleuvoir, il fera soleil.^{No, not raining, it will be sunny.}
Monique: Très bien ! Allons au parc !^{Very well! let's go to the park.}
Marcelle: Apporte un parapluie, au cas où il pleuvrait.^{Bring an umbrella in case it rains.}

Similar to English, pleuvoir is an impersonal verb: it has only a third-person singular conjugation:

• il pleut (present)
• il va pleuvoir or il pleuvra (future)
• il pleuvrait (conditional).

In order to say that one did not do something, the ne … pas construction must be used. The ne is placed before the verb, while the pas is placed after.

Simple negation is done by wrapping ne … pas around the verb:

Je ne porte pas mon manteau.^{I am not wearing my coat.}

In a past tense, ne … pas surrounds the auxiliary verb, not the participle:

Je n'ai pas porté mon manteau.^{I did not wear my coat.}

When an infinitive and conjugated verb are together, ne … pas usually surrounds the conjugated verb:

Je ne veux pas porter mes gants.^{I do not want to wear my gloves.}

Ne pas can also precede the infinitive for a different meaning:

Je veux ne pas porter mes gants.^{I want not to wear my gloves.}

Ne precedes any pronoun relating to the verb it affects:

Je ne les porte pas.^{I am not wearing them.}

In spoken French, the ne can be omitted, leaving simply pas after the verb in context:

Je sais pas qui vous êtes.^{I do not know who you are.}

The indefinite articles un, une, and des change to de (or d’) when negating a sentence.

(upload audio)
Quel temps fait-il ?		How's the weather?
le soleil	/lə sɔ.lɛj/	sun
le ciel	/lə sjɛl/	sky
Ébloui par le soleil	/e.blu.i paʁ lə sɔ.lɛj/	Dazzled by the sun (example: coming into the sun from indoors)
Warm weather
Il fait beau.		It's fine/nice.
Il fait chaud.		It's warm/hot.
Le ciel est dégagé. Le ciel se dégage.		The sky is clear. The sky is clearing up.
Le soleil brille		The sun is shining
Cloudy weather
le nuage Il y a des nuages	/nɥaʒ/	cloud It's cloudy
nuageux(-euse)	/nɥa.ʒø/	cloudy
l'éclaircie (f)		sunny spell (in clouds)
Cold and windy weather
Il fait froid	(eel feh fwah)	It is cool/cold
Il fait trop froid	(eel feh troh fwah)	It is too cold
le vent Il y a du vent Le vent souffle.	[[:Media:Fr-vent.ogg|]]	wind It's windy. The wind blows
la rafale	/ʁafal/	gust of wind

Note that le temps means both the weather and the time.

The verb aller is translated to to go. It is irregularly conjugated (it does not count as a regular -er verb).

aller  /a.le/ (ah-lay)	to read
je vais  /vɛ/ (vay)	I go
tu vas  /va/ (vah)	you go
il va  /va/ (vah)	he goes
nous allons /a.lɔ̃/ (ah-loh(n))	we go
vous allez /a.le/ (ah-lay)	you go
ils vont  /vɔ̃/ (voh(n))	they go
allé /a.le/	gone

There is no present progressive tense in French, so aller in the present indicative is used to express both I go and I am going:

Où est-ce que tu vas?^{Where are you going?}

Aller must be used with a place and cannot stand alone.

In addition to meaning at or in, the preposition à /a/ means to when used with aller :

Je vais à Paris.^{I am going to Paris.}

Je vais au bureau.^{I am going to the office.}

Tu vas à l'école ?^{You're going to school?}

An infinitive preceded by aller is used to say that something is going to happen in the near future:

Il va pleuvoir demain.^{It's going to rain tomorrow.}

Il va faire froid.^{It's going to be cold.}

Je vais aller au magasin.^{I will go to the store.}

Recall that the negative goes around the conjugated verb.

Il ne va pas pleuvoir demain.^{It's not going to rain tomorrow.}

(upload audio)
Rainy weather
la brume	/bʀym/	fog, haze, mist
le brouillard	/bʀujaʀ/	fog
la bruine	/bʁɥin/	drizzle
une goutte de pluie		a drop of rain
la pluie La pluie tombe.		rain The rain falls.
Il pleut. Il a plu. Il va pleuvoir.		It's raining. It rained. It's going to rain.
pluvieux(-euse) Le temps est pluvieux.		rainy It's raining.
l'averse (f)	/a.vɛʁs/	shower
Snowy weather
la neige Il neige.	/nɛʒ/	snow It's snowing.
la grêle Il tombe de la grêle.	/gʀɛl/	hail It's hailing.
Extreme weather
un orage orageux(-euse) Il y a un orage!	/ɔʁaʒ/	a storm stormy There's a storm!
l'éclair (m) la foudre	/e.klɛʁ/ /fudʁ/	flash (of lightning) lightning
la tempête	Fr-tempête.ogg	storm, tempest
le tonnerre	Fr-tonnerre.ogg	thunder