"Hace nubes" vs. "Está nublado"

Question

I am going through and doing some of the lessons I skipped because I thought I knew them already.

I am listening to the Weather lesson and for "It's cloudy" it says "Hace nubes" but the way I learned was "está nublado" and hadn't heard of the other. Which is more common? Is there a difference between them about how cloudy it is?

EDIT:

So, in Spain, "hace nubes" is bad. In Argetina, "hace nubes" is bad. In Mexico, it's fine. Seems like it depends on the region.....!

Answer 1

Is it cloudy ? está nublado or is it becoming cloudy? hace nubes.

This is splitting hairs as both are common use,at least in México

• That's what I was wondering: does it carry any difference in meaning, so I guess the answer is not really. - Luciente Apr 13, 2011

Answer 2

el tiempo

it’s cloudy....hace nubes or está nublado

Well, if you put any credence in google hits, there is a 4:1 difference in hits. (24.2 million to 6.4 million), but a lot of those hits are because hace nubes also carries the context of making clouds besides being cloudy.

• So they are the same... no difference in feeling to a native speaker? - Luciente Apr 13, 2011
• Thanks for the edit for the extra information. That's what I was trying to find out. :D - Luciente Apr 13, 2011

Answer 3

On first sight I would consider "hace nubes" incorrect.

Who knows if this is said like this somewhere though

The usual thing is:

Hay nubes.

Está nublado.

Being the second more common I would say

• To me, "hace nubes" sounds terrible, too. :) - cogumela Apr 14, 2011
• "Hace nubes" would be correct if you are talking about some rainmaker. I would use "crea nubes" though. :) - Guillermo2 Apr 14, 2011
• Qué raro....... I wonder why the lesson here decided to use "hace nubes" for "cloudy" then. Hmmm. - Luciente Apr 14, 2011

Answer 4

When I first saw the title to this thread, I though: "goodness, that sounds horribly wrong!". But then I thought about it: where I grew up people would say: "está soleado, está nublado, está lloviendo - hace sol. So, if "hace sol" is ok, why not "hace nubes"? It is as "logical" or not, as "hace sol", which I think is a very common expression most everywhere Spanish is spoken.

I am not used to "hace nubes", and don't recall ever having heard it again, but from the other comments in this thread, apparently it is common enough in other countries. Live and learn, I say.

Answer 5

I live in Argentina, and we never use "Hace nubes" unless we're joking (my friends and I always make jokes about incorrect and improper language). "Nublado" does not only apply to the weather, but also to the sky (it's an adjective), whereas "hay nubes" only refers to a description (not an inherent characteristic) of the weather.

I hope this clarifies your doubt a little further!

• Welcome to the forum, :) - Heidita Apr 14, 2011

Answer 6

In our class we learned that "hace nubes" means more that "there are clouds" and "esta nublado" means "it is cloudy"

However this could be completely incorrect.

I'm not sure if that was helpful at all.