Chinese Weather Vocabulary Posted by sasha on Apr 22, 2021 in Vocabulary
When making small talk, one topic that always comes up is the weather (天气 tiān qì), whether you like it or not. If you can forgive me for that cheesy pun, I’ll teach you some useful Chinese weather vocabulary and phrases in this post.
北京的烟雾弥漫的一天 (A smoggy day in Beijing).
Seasons (季节 jì jié)
- winter (冬天 dōng tiān)
- spring (春天 chūn tiān)
- summer (夏天 xià tiān)
- fall/autumn (秋天 qiū tiān)
- dry season (旱季 hàn jì)
- rainy season (雨季 yǔ jì)
I’ve written several posts over the years about the seasons in China which you can check out here:
Temperature (温度 wēn dù)
- hot (热 rè)
- warm (温暖 wēn nuǎn)
- cool (凉快 liáng kuài)
- cold (冷 lěng)
- degree (度 dù)
今天天晴 (It’s sunny today).
More Weather Vocabulary
- clear (晴朗 qíng lǎng)
- sunny (阳光明媚 yáng guāng míng mèi)
- a sunny day (晴天 qíng tiān)
- cloudy (多云 duō yún)
- a cloudy day (阴天 yīn tiān)
- rain (雨 yǔ)
- snow (雪 xuě)
- wind (风 fēng)
- fog (雾 wù)
- smog (烟雾 yān wù)
- humid (湿 shī)
- dry (干 gàn)
- weather forecast (天气预报 tiān qì yù bào)
Extreme Weather (极端天气 jí duān tiān qì)
- hurricane (飓风 jù fēng)
- tsunami (海啸 hǎi xiào)
- tornado (龙卷风 lóng juǎn fēng)
- flood (洪水 hóng shuǐ)
- blizzard (暴风雪 bào fēng xuě)
- heat wave (热浪 rè làng)
- dust storm (尘暴 chén bào)
在哈尔滨，冬天很冷 (In Harbin, winter is very cold).
Questions and Answers
- How’s the weather today? (今天天气怎么样? jīn tiān tiān qì zěn me yàng)
- Today, the weather is… (今天天气 jīn tiān tiān qì)
- very good (很好 hěn hǎo)
- bad (不好 bù hǎo)
- not bad/so-so (不错 bú cuò)
- too hot (太热了 tài rè le)
- incredibly cold (特别冷 tè bié lěng)
- It’s a clear day. (今天是晴天 jīn tiān shì qíng tiān)
- It’s a foggy day. (今天是雾天 jīn tiān shì wù tiān)
- It’s a cloudy day. (今天是阴天 jīn tiān shì yīn tiān)
- The wind is very strong today. (今天有大风 jīn tiān yǒu dà fēng)
- It’s raining. (下雨了 xià yǔ le)
- It’s snowing. (下雪了 xià xuě le)
今天天气很好 (The weather is very good today).
- What’s the weather like in Beijing? (北京的天气怎么样? běi jīng de tiān qì zěn me yàng)
- Although it doesn’t snow often in winter, it’s very cold. (冬天虽然不常下雪，可是很冷 dōng tiān suī rán bù cháng xià xuě, kě shì hěn lěng)
- The weather in spring is very comfortable. (春天天气很舒服 chūn tiān tiān qì hěn shū fú)
- Summer is very hot, and it often rains. (夏天很热，常常下雨 xià tiān hěn rè, cháng cháng xià yǔ)
- Fall is the best season, it isn’t cold and it isn’t hot. (秋天是最好的季节. 不冷，也不热 qiū tiān shì zuì hǎo de jì jié, bù lěng, yě bù rè.)
Practice
Use these questions to form your own answers!
- Where do you live? (你住在哪里? nǐ zhù zài nǎ lǐ)
- What’s the weather like there? (哪里的天气怎么样 nǎ lǐ de tiān qì zěn me yàng)
For some great listening and reading practice, I also recommend following along with this YouTube video from SyS Mandarin. The teacher takes an actual weather forecast from Chinese news and breaks it down sentence by sentence.
Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.
About the Author: sasha
Sasha is an English teacher, writer, photographer, and videographer from the great state of Michigan. Upon graduating from Michigan State University, he moved to China and spent 5+ years living, working, studying, and traveling there. He also studied Indonesian Language & Culture in Bali for a year. He and his wife run the travel blog Grateful Gypsies, and they're currently trying the digital nomad lifestyle across Latin America.
Leave a comment: