Weather in Chinese

How do you talk about the weather in Chinese? Whether you’re experiencing sun, snow, or something in between, this free audio lesson will teach you tons of Mandarin Chinese words you can use in conversation. Whether you’re traveling in a Chinese-speaking country or conversing with Chinese speakers closer to home, the Rocket Chinese team will teach you how to talk about the climate and the current weather conditions in Chinese.

We hope you don’t encounter any extreme weather, but to be on safe side we’ll teach you some words for that too. It’s good to be prepared and know what to expect, so let’s get started!

Resources for further reading:

Pronouncing weather in Chinese

Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record

Rocket Record lets you perfect your Chinese pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!
天气
tiānqì
weather
今天的天气预报怎么说?
Jīntiān de tiānqìyùbào zěnme shuō?
What's the weather forecast for today?
这个星期的天气预报怎么说?
Zhège xīngqī de tiānqìyùbào zěnme shuō?
What's the weather forecast for this week?
天气如何?
Tiānqì rúhé?
How's the weather?
天气怎么样?
Tiānqì zěnmeyàng?
What's the weather like?
外边怎么样?
Wàibiān zěnmeyàng?
What's it like outside?
There are a lot of possible answers to that question. Here are the most common ones…
Chinese forest
冷。
Lěng。
It's cold.
多风。
Duōfēng。
It's windy.
有暴风雨。
Yǒu bàofēngyǔ。
It's stormy.
热。
Rè。
It's hot.
晴朗。
Qínglǎng。
It's sunny.
天晴。
Tiānqíng。
It's clear.
多云。
Duōyún。
It's cloudy.
天气很好。
Tiānqì hěnhǎo。
It's nice.
有冰雪。
Yǒu bīngxuě。
It's icy.
天气潮湿。
Tiānqì cháoshī。
It's humid
You can use the word “hěn” (很) for all of the above phrases to emphasize that it’s not just cold or warm, but very cold or very warm. For example:
很冷。
Hěnlěng。
It's very cold.
很暖和。
Hěn nuǎnhuo。
It's very warm.
很热。
Hěnrè。
It's very hot.
When talking about rain you can use the following expressions …
下雨了。
Xiàyǔ le。
It's raining
多雨。
Duōyǔ。
It's rainy.
For a farmer rain might be all he needs, whereas a soccer team might be hoping for a sunny day. Here are some more general answers.
天气很恶劣。
Tiānqì hěn èliè。
It's miserable weather.
天气很好。
Tiānqì hěnhǎo。
It's good weather.
天气不好。
Tiānqì bùhǎo。
It's bad weather.
天气好极了。
Tiānqì hǎojíle。
It's beautiful weather.
天气很糟糕。
Tiānqì hěn zāogāo。
It's terrible weather.
Snow on the highway - Chinese translation
If you are planning to travel to China in the winter time, you’ll probably need to know the next two phrases.
下雪了。
Xiàxuě le。
It's snowing
冰天雪地的冷天气。
Bīngtiānxuědì de lěng tiānqì。
It's icy cold
Here are some more words that describe certain weather conditions…
彩虹
cǎihóng
The rainbow
冰雹
bīngbáo
The hail
The rain
léi
The thunder
雷雨
léiyǔ
The thunderstorm
闪电
shǎndiàn
The lightning
地震
dìzhèn
The earthquake
暴风雨
bàofēngyǔ
The storm
飓风
jùfēng
The hurricane
气温
qìwēn
The temperature
The fog
水灾
shuǐzāi
The flood
bīng
The ice
xuě
The snow
雪花
xuěhuā
The snowflake
yún
The cloud

Here are a few recommended Chinese lessons to try next!

下次见! Xiàcì jiàn!

Lin Ping: Rocket Chinese

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