Weather is one of the most common topics in everyday Italian conversation. The key question is 'Che tempo fa?' (What is the weather like?). Italian uses several different grammatical structures to describe weather, unlike English which almost always uses 'it is'. You will use fare (to do/make), essere (to be), specific impersonal verbs such as piove and nevica, and the construction c'è/ci sono. Mastering these patterns will let you describe weather in the present, past, and by season.
| Italian | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fa caldo | It's hot | Most common — used for warm or hot weather |
| Fa freddo | It's cold | Used for cold weather of any kind |
| Fa bello (tempo) | It's nice weather / It's lovely | Also said as 'fa bel tempo' |
| Fa brutto (tempo) | It's bad weather / It's nasty out | Also said as 'fa brutto tempo' |
| Fa fresco | It's cool / It's fresh | Mild coolness — typical of spring and autumn |
| Fa caldo afoso | It's muggy / It's stifling hot | Humid heat, very common in Italian summers |
| Che tempo fa? | What's the weather like? | The essential question to ask about weather |
| Italian | English | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Piove | It's raining / It rains | piovere — 3rd person singular only |
| Nevica | It's snowing / It snows | nevicare — 3rd person singular only |
| Grandina | It's hailing / It hails | grandinare — 3rd person singular only |
| Tuona | It's thundering / It thunders | tuonare — 3rd person singular only |
| Lampeggia | There's lightning / It's lightning | lampeggiare — 3rd person singular only |
| Tira vento | It's windy | tirare vento — literally 'wind is blowing' |
| C'è il sole | It's sunny | c'è + definite article + noun |
| C'è vento | It's windy | c'è + noun without article |
| C'è nebbia | It's foggy | c'è + noun without article |
| C'è (un) temporale | There's a storm | c'è + noun |
| Ci sono le nuvole | It's cloudy | ci sono + plural noun with article |
| È nuvoloso | It's cloudy | essere + adjective |
| È sereno | It's clear / It's fair | essere + adjective |
| È umido | It's humid / It's damp | essere + adjective |
| È nebbioso | It's foggy | essere + adjective |
Italian uses two main past tenses for weather. The imperfetto (imperfect) describes weather as a background condition or ongoing state in the past: 'Ieri faceva freddo' (Yesterday it was cold), 'Quando ero bambino, nevicava spesso d'inverno' (When I was a child, it often snowed in winter). The passato prossimo describes a completed weather event: 'Ieri è piovuto tutto il giorno' (Yesterday it rained all day), 'Ha fatto molto caldo questa settimana' (It has been very hot this week), 'È nevicato stanotte' (It snowed last night). Note that piovere, nevicare, and grandinare use essere as their auxiliary in the passato prossimo: è piovuto, è nevicato, è grandinato.
| Season | In Italian | Typical Weather Expressions |
|---|---|---|
| Spring — la primavera | in primavera | fa fresco, piove spesso, c'è il sole a tratti, è nuvoloso |
| Summer — l'estate | in estate | fa molto caldo, c'è il sole, fa caldo afoso, ci sono i temporali |
| Autumn — l'autunno | in autunno | fa fresco, piove, c'è nebbia, tira vento, fa brutto tempo |
| Winter — l'inverno | in inverno | fa freddo, nevica, grandina, c'è ghiaccio, fa molto freddo |
This is one of the most important distinctions for learners. 'Fa caldo' means the weather or environment is hot — it is an impersonal expression about the outside temperature or a room. 'Ho caldo' (literally 'I have heat') means I personally feel hot — it describes your body's sensation. Similarly: 'Ho freddo' = I am cold (I feel cold), 'Fa freddo' = It is cold (the weather). You NEVER say 'Sono caldo' or 'Sono freddo' to mean you feel hot or cold — in Italian those phrases carry a completely different meaning. Always use avere for personal body temperature sensations: ho caldo, ho freddo, hai caldo?, ha freddo?
To express temperature in Italian: 'La temperatura è di venti gradi' (The temperature is twenty degrees) or more casually 'Fa venti gradi' (It's twenty degrees). Italy uses Celsius. Common phrases: 'Sono zero gradi' (It's zero degrees), 'Fa meno dieci' (It's minus ten), 'Ci sono trenta gradi all'ombra' (It's thirty degrees in the shade). To ask: 'Quanti gradi fa?' (How many degrees is it?) — answer: 'Fa ventitré gradi' (It's twenty-three degrees). The word 'grado/gradi' is always used for temperature degrees.
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Fare + Weather: Basic Expressions
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Fare + Weather: Choosing the Right Expression
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Fare + Weather: Translation Practice
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Fare + Weather: Identifying Errors
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Fare + Weather: Fill in the Blank
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Fare + Weather: Seasons and Context
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Fare + Weather: Multiple Expressions in Context
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Fare + Weather: Negation and Questions
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Fare + Weather: Sentence Completion
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Fare + Weather: Review and Consolidation
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Specific Weather Verbs: Piove, Nevica, Grandina
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Specific Weather Verbs: Choosing Correctly
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Specific Weather Verbs: Past Tense Forms
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Specific Weather Verbs: Matching Verbs to Scenes
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Specific Weather Verbs: Fill in the Blank
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Specific Weather Verbs: Intensifiers and Adverbs
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Specific Weather Verbs: Future and Forecasts
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Specific Weather Verbs: Translation
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Specific Weather Verbs: Mixed Practice
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Specific Weather Verbs: Consolidation Fill-in
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C'è / Ci Sono: Weather Expressions
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Essere + Adjective: Weather Descriptions
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C'è / Ci Sono vs. Essere + Adjective
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C'è / Ci Sono: Weather in Context
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C'è, Ci Sono and Essere: Fill in the Blank
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Weather Adjectives and Nouns: Vocabulary Building
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C'è / Ci Sono in the Past
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All Weather Structures: Comparing and Choosing
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Weather Descriptions: Full Sentences
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C'è / Ci Sono / Essere: Review Fill in the Blank
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Weather in the Past: Imperfetto
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Weather in the Past: Passato Prossimo
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Imperfetto vs Passato Prossimo: Weather
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Past Weather: Narrative Contexts
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Past Weather: Fill in the Blank
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Past Weather: Habitual vs Specific Events
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Past Weather: Complete the Conversation
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Past Weather: Auxiliary Verbs (essere vs avere)
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Past Weather: Mixed Review
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Past Weather: Group 4 Review Fill in the Blank
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Ho Caldo vs Fa Caldo: Personal vs Weather
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Seasons and Weather: Mixed Expressions
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Temperature Expressions
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Mixed Weather: All Structures
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Ho Caldo vs Fa Caldo: Fill in the Blank
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Weather Forecasts and Future Tense
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Weather Vocabulary: Choosing the Right Word
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Weather in Context: Real-Life Situations
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Weather Expressions: Final Mixed Review
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Weather Expressions: Complete Final Review
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