Italian · CEFR Band 1 (A1) · Chapter 28
Che tempo fa?What's the weather like?
Italian weather does not «be» — it DOES: fa caldo, fa freddo, fa bel tempo. Chapter 18's do-everything verb takes the weatherman job too, with two colleagues: c'è (c'è il sole, c'è vento) and the one-word weather verbs (piove, nevica — no subject, it just rains). The weather bulletin is an attested CILS listening text, and caldo/freddo return from chapter 20 for their third job: from taste to climate.
Dialogue
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Fa caldo oggi— It's hot today
- GiuliaMike, domenica facciamo un giro in bici? Guarda che cielo!Mike, shall we go for a bike ride on Sunday? Look at that sky!
- MikeSì! Fa caldo oggi, e domenica c'è il sole, no?Yes! It's hot today, and on Sunday it's sunny, right?
- GiuliaSì, domenica fa bel tempo!Yes, on Sunday the weather's lovely!
- MikeE se piove?And if it rains?
- GiuliaSe piove… andiamo al bar!If it rains… we'll go to the bar!
Dialogue
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Il bollettino meteo— The weather bulletin
- MarcoAscolta la radio: «Oggi al nord piove e fa freddo. Al centro c'è vento. Al sud c'è il sole e fa caldo: trenta gradi».Listen to the radio: «Today in the north it's raining and cold. In the center it's windy. In the south it's sunny and hot: thirty degrees».
- GiuliaTrenta gradi al sud! A Napoli fa caldo — e qui piove. Che tempo fa domani?Thirty degrees in the south! It's hot in Naples — and here it's raining. What's the weather tomorrow?
- MarcoDomani non piove: fa bel tempo. Ma in montagna nevica — a gennaio c'è la neve.Tomorrow it won't rain: the weather will be nice. But in the mountains it's snowing — in January there's snow.
- GiuliaAllora domenica giro in bici — e a gennaio, tutti in montagna!Then Sunday it's the bike ride — and in January, everyone to the mountains!
Vocabulary
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- il tempo
n.m.the weather (second sense — che tempo fa?; time-tempo was chapter 16, free-time-tempo chapter 27: one word, three jobs)
- il sole
n.m.the sun (c'è il sole = it's sunny — the sun is a there-is thing, not a fa-thing)
- la pioggia
n.f.the rain (the noun; the verb piove does the daily work — gg holds like any double, P4)
- piovere / piove
verbto rain / it rains (subjectless — the whole sentence in one word: piove; oggi non piove)
- nevicare / nevica
verbto snow / it snows (piove's sibling; la neve = the snow itself)
- il vento
n.m.the wind (c'è vento = it's windy — no article needed in the weather report)
- la neve
n.f.the snow (c'è la neve in montagna; nevica is the falling, la neve is what lies there)
- la nuvola
n.f.the cloud (è nuvoloso = it's cloudy — the adjective the bulletins love)
- il grado
n.m.the degree (trenta gradi — numbers from chapter 12 take the temperature)
- il cielo
n.m.the sky (il cielo è blu — with P2's soft c: /tʃɛ/; ci needs no h to soften)
- che tempo fa?
phrasewhat's the weather like? (the asking formula — answered with fa…, c'è…, piove)
- la montagna
n.f.the mountain (in montagna — bare; the P3 gn singing inside)
- fa bel tempo
expr.the weather's nice
- il nord / il sud
n.m.the north / the south
Grammar
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Fa caldo, c'è il sole, piove — the weather's three engines
Explanation
Italian weather runs on three engines. ONE: fare — for temperature and the general verdict: fa caldo, fa freddo, fa bel tempo, fa brutto tempo. Impersonal, always third person: nobody «does» anything, the sky does it by itself. TWO: c'è — for things present in the sky: c'è il sole, c'è vento, c'è la neve, ci sono le nuvole. It is chapter 13's c'è on a new work site. THREE: the one-word verbs — piove, nevica: no subject, the sentence is complete as is. Watch the internal false friend: «è caldo» exists, but it describes an OBJECT — il caffè è caldo. The day is not hot: the day DOES hot. If in your language weather runs on «to be», the reflex «è caldo oggi» is the classic trap — the test: are you talking about the sky? Then fa / c'è / piove. The umbrella question for everything: Che tempo fa?
Examples
- Che tempo fa? Fa freddo e c'è vento.What's the weather like? It's cold and windy.
- Oggi piove, ma domani fa bel tempo.Today it's raining, but tomorrow the weather will be nice.
- Il caffè è caldo; oggi fa caldo.The coffee is hot; today it’s hot.
- In montagna nevica e ci sono le nuvole.In the mountains it's snowing and there are clouds.
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