As the temperatures start to cool in many places in ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½, it can be useful to have the right vocabulary to talk about the change in weather. Italians love to comment on the weather as much as we do! Here is a handy guide to having a conversation about the weather with your Italian neighbours, colleagues, friends or family.
Let’s start with some simple questions:
Com’è il tempo oggi? – What’s the weather like today?
Fa freddo? – Is it cold?
C’è la pioggia? – Is it raining?
C’è la neve? – Is it snowing?
C’è il vento? – Is it windy?
Freezing cold
If the weather is particularly cold, there are some options you can choose from to express this:
Fa freddo – It’s cold
Fa freddissimo – It’s really cold
È gelido – It’s freezing
È ghiacciato – It’s frosty
Fa un freddo cane – It’s freezing cold or bitter cold (literally this means it is a cold dog!)
Fa un freddo pungente – It’s bitterly cold
Ho la pelle d’oca – I have goose pimples
C’è un’ondata di freddo – There’s a cold snap, a cold spell or a period of cold weather
Tutto è coperto di ghiaccio – Everything is covered in frost
Sto congelando – I am freezing cold
Grey and cloudy
To talk about clouds, mist and fog, you can use some of these words:
Ci sono le nuvole / È nuvoloso / C’è una copertura nuvolosa – It’s cloudy or it’s overcast
C’è una nuvola scura – There are dark clouds
Ci sono le nuvole temporalesca – There are rainclouds
C’è la nebbia – It’s foggy
C’è la foschia – It’s misty
A snow storm
If the temperature falls below freezing, you may see snow or ice in many places in ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ during the winter, here are some phrases you could use:
Nevica / C’è la neve – It’s snowing
C’è la bufera di neve – There’s a snow storm
Guardi i fiocchi di neve – Look at the snow flakes
Nevischia – It’s sleeting / there’s sleet
